2019 The African American Experience: The Christiana Resistance of 1851

On Sept. 11, 1851, Maryland slave-owner Edward Gorsuch arrived at the farm of William Parker in search of an enslaved person that Parker was hiding. Armed neighbors rushed to the scene and in the ensuing fight against the slave catchers Edward Gorsuch was killed. Thirty-eight men, mostly African American, were arrested, but after the first defendant was acquitted, the rest of the men were released. In this episode of the African American Experience, Darlene Colon, president of the Christiana Historical Society, tells the story of the Christiana Resistance of 1851.