Existing comment:
Shields Green
1836-1859
"a braver man never lived"
Shields Green escaped slavery in South Carolina in 1856. He left behind a young son as he fled north to find freedom. Moving back and forth between Rochester, New York, and Canada, Green worked as a waiter and a servant. While in Rochester he met Frederick Douglass, a former slave and leading black abolitionist. At Douglass' home in January 1858, Green met John Brown. At Brown's request the trio gathered again the following year in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, where the old man revealed his intention to seize the federal armory and arsenal in Harpers Ferry, Virginia. Douglass counseled against the attack on federal property and refused to join. Twenty-three year old Shields Green, rumored to be the son of an African prince sold into slavery, parted with Douglass and followed John Brown. |