Existing comment:
African Americans have always been a part of the Harpers Ferry story. As free people and as slaves, they helped build and work in the factories in Lower Town and on Virginius Island. During the Civil War, refugee slaves were pressed into service to build military fortifications on Maryland Heights. Storer College, established on Camp Hill after the war, educated many African Americans as they stepped out of the shadows of slavery. Storer provided a safe haven for its students and a local stage for the national struggle over equal rights. |