Public Libraries of Suffolk County, New York

The Parker sisters, a border kidnapping, Lucy Maddox

eng

Includes bibliographical references (pages [211]-239) and index

contains biographical information

photographsillustrations

index present

non fiction

The Parker sisters

bibliography

Lucy Maddox

a border kidnapping

In 1851, Elizabeth Parker, a free black child in Chester County, Pennsylvania, was bound and gagged, snatched from a local farm, and hurried off to a Baltimore slave pen. Two weeks later, her teenage sister, Rachel, was abducted from another Chester County farm. Because slave catchers could take fugitive slaves and free blacks across state lines to be sold, the border country of Pennsylvania/Maryland had become a dangerous place for most black people. In The Parker Sisters, Lucy Maddox gives an eloquent, urgent account of the tragic kidnapping of these young women. Using archival news and courtroom reports, Maddox tells the larger story of the disastrous effect of the Fugitive Slave Act on the small farming communities of Chester County and the significant, widening consequences for the state and the nation.

The Line -- The Parkers' World -- Border Justice -- Elizabeth's Story -- Baltimore -- Legal Justice -- Freedom -- Afterwards -- Appendix

adult

Border kidnapping