Original article published in the Mower County Independent, Thursday, March 5, 2026. Reprinted with permission and gratitude.
By David Phillips
A Lunch and Learn program at Good Earth Village on Feb. 24 about abolitionists and the Underground Railroad in the area led to thoughts about what it means to be an American, even today.
At the start of the lunch program, which is the first in a series, presenter Sara Holger talked about her family history, which turned out to be completely different than she was led to believe as a child since she later found she actually isn’t Scandinavian and her family includes some enslavers, although she is still holding out hope that it also includes an abolitionist.
I didn’t learn about my family history until I was older, so I had no illusions as a youngster, but it turns out my family is about as American as possible with both sides traveling from England to this continent prior to the 1630s. The Phillips side of my family started here with the Rev. George Phillips, a Puritan minister who formed a Congregational church in 1630 in what became Watertown, Mass., just outside of Boston.
Puritans, who fled persecution in England, greatly influenced American culture with its emphasis on religion, literacy, work and civics. Their descendants, along with others from early Euro pean settlers, made up most of the Founding Fathers of the United States.
With that kind of family history, how could I not be a true American? However, as Holger’s talk showed, history can be more complex.
In reality, these early settlers were immigrants, keeping most of their existing European traditions, language and Christianity, instead of assimilating with the people already living here, Native Americans, who had their own religions, languages and customs.
Also muddling the historical picture is that around the same time my ancestors came here, the first African slaves were brought to the continent. With such a lengthy history in this country, their descendants should be considered as American as I am, yet that often isn’t the case. One detriment is that these descendants don’t know their family history. Slaves were prohibited, even by law in the early 1800s in southern states, from reading or writing, plus families were often torn apart, and surnames weren’t often used, making it challenging to trace their ancestry.
Although descendants of these Africans lived in America for centuries, just as my European an cestors did, it took them more than 200 years to gain their freedom after the Civil War and another century to gain full rights as true Americans because Jim Crow laws in the South, which existed as late as the 1960s, sanctioned segregation and second-class citizenship for African-Americans.
Not everyone, though, thought that these Americans should have to wait to be included in all that our country has to offer. In the 1800s, abolitionists rose to prominence. One of the most famous ones is Wendell Phillips, who is also a descendant of the Rev. George Phillips. I’ve seen his statue in Boston and read his biography since he shares lineage with me.
Holger’s talk highlighted that there were also abolitionists in Minnesota, many who moved here before Minnesota became a state in 1858. The territory was in the free part of the Union, but Southerners and some military officers were bringing slaves to the state and getting away with it because there was no specific law prohibiting it.
Abolitionists here wanted to make sure that when Minnesota became a state, its Constitution prohibited slavery. Among them was James Michener, who lived between Cherry Grove and Etna. He was raised a Quaker in Ohio and spent his adult life in Indiana before moving in 1857 to southeast ern Minnesota, where he farmed, growing apples.
Not a lot is known about Michener’s specific abolitionist activities. There is evidence of gatherings and other activity, but the lives of abolitionists were secretive because this wasn’t always looked on as a true American activity.
“They weren’t main stream. We’re talking about a small percentage of the population at the time that were abolitionists,” said Holger. “They were mobbed, beaten, murdered, thrown in jail. It was a risky thing to put yourself out there and say you were an abolitionist.”
While it might be surprising that slaves briefly lived in Minnesota at one time, Holger also found it surprising that there were many other Black or multiracial people in the state before the Civil War. The new territory had many transient people, leading to a more diverse population than expected.
Many of the stories are just being uncovered as more newspapers and archives become digitized. Research by Sara Sturgis, former director of the Fillmore County Historical Society, found many Black settlers in our area, but most don’t have headstones in local cemeteries.
Holger noted an example of African-Americans and multiracial people that lived in Hart, just north of Rushford. Joseph D. Jeffrey, who was elected overseer of the poor there, is one of the earliest documented persons of color to hold a political office in Minnesota. It’s uncertain why the families came to the area, but speculation is that it was through local abolitionists aiding in the Underground Railroad.
Although abolitionism is relegated to history, it seems that it should be a timely subject as there is an effort to erase references to slavery at federal historical sites and in school textbooks in certain states. There is a push to honor our European history while looking past the contradictions that in volve other types of Americans.
Vigorous debate also remains about who gets to be called an American today. The flashpoint now is immigrants.
Most of the debate is on illegal immigration, where one side labels people they call agitators as un-American because they coddle criminals and impede federal law enforcement, while the other side feels that some immigrants who are going through the proper process for citizenship and even American citizens are getting caught up in a campaign that uses un-American tactics, such as agents bursting into homes, guns drawn, without judicial warrants, or enforcers stopping random people on the streets just because of their complexion or accent.
The rhetoric has spilled over to accusations that even legal immigrants and their descendants from certain countries, Somalia for example, aren’t true Americans.
How this issue plays out remains to be seen, but tomorrow’s historical records may well show these more recent contradictions may be resolved in a surprising outcome that doesn’t necessarily align with those in power.
As Holger noted, one reason abolitionism is a fascinating subject is because “it shows that just a small group of people really did change the world.”
For more information on Holger’s project, she suggests using Google to search for “abolitionists of Southeast Minnesota” or check out the Face book page called Freedom Stories of Southeast Minnesota. The Mower County Independent is also publishing a news story on Holger’s Lunch and Learn talk.
Courtesy of the Mower County Independent, 135 E Main St. LeRoy, MN 55951, (507)-324-5325
