Posthumous pardon for Delaware man who helped slaves escape in 1847
Source: Reuters
Posthumous pardon for Delaware man who helped slaves escape in 1847
Reuters
7 hours ago
(Reuters) - Delaware Governor Jack Markell issued a posthumous pardon for Samuel Burris on Monday in the same courtroom where the free black man was convicted 168 years ago of helping slaves escape through the Underground Railroad.
Burris' descendants gathered in a courtroom in Dover, Delaware, to accept the pardon that set aside his 1847 criminal record and recognized his heroism.
"We affirm today that history will no longer record his actions as criminal, but rather as acts of freedom and bravery in the face of injustice," the governor said in a statement.
As an Underground Railroad conductor, Burris, who lived near Camden, Delaware, successfully led several enslaved people from Maryland and Delaware to freedom, Markell's office said. While helping a woman board a steamship in her effort to escape slavery in 1847, he was captured and charged with "enticing away a slave," according to the pardon.
Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/posthumous-pardon-delaware-man-helped-slaves-escape-1847-201855305.html
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Samuel Burris. [/center]
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