Myers Residence

Myers Residence

Today was the last day of the Discovery Program in the Hudson. I am very excited that I made it. Soon, I will be getting 15 credits. This course definitely helped me grow as a person. Now, I know more about American History. I know more than just the basic history that I learned in high school. During the Discovery Program, I learned about very important people that helped shape the American Society. Today, for instance, we went to Stephen Myers’ house in Albany. Even though Stephen Myers was very involved in the abolition movements, I never heard about him before. 

Myers and his wife Harriet were the leaders of the Underground Railroad in Albany in the 1850s. The picture above shows Myers’ House. In this house was where many of the decisions about the abolition movements were made. The curator told us that the Underground Railroad was kept secret among the citizens of the town. If outsiders came, the citizens of the town would not mention anything about the Underground Railroad. The railroad was kept a secret because the citizens feared that the outsiders would betray the slaves hiding in the town.

Stephen Myers

Myers was born enslaved in Rensselaer County and freed at age 18.  Having lived as a slave was probably what motivated Myer to help free other slaves. By 1831, Myers and his wife had helped many slaves pursuing their freedom. Years later, Myers along with other abolitionists published a newspaper where they talked about helping fugitives coming from the south and about being against slavery. Thanks to the hard work of the Myers family, many runaways got their freedom. Myers never stopped working for the equality of African Americans. In 1844, the Albany Underground Railroad was described as the most efficient organization in New York State that helped many refugees to get their freedom.

Thanks to the Myers as well as other abolitionists such as Harriet Tubman, Martin Townsend, and John Brown, many runaways that came to Rensselaer County got their freedom. Martin Townsend was not an official abolitionist but he helped the runaway Charles Nalle get his freedom. He intervened to save Charles from being sent back to his owner in the south. Thanks to his intervention, Charles Nalle’s freedom was bought by the citizens of Troy. It is very nice to know that even ordinary people took actions to abolish slavery.  If it was not for the discovery program in the Hudson, I probably would have never learned about these important people that helped shape the American society.