Oneida County Anti-Slavery

An organized anti-slavery movement started in Oneida County in the early 1830s. Local activists were inspired by the words and examples of Beriah Green and his students at the Oneida Institute. There were 17 anti-slavery societies throughout Oneida County by 1835, which were followed by many Underground Railroad stations. Anti-slavery efforts included the cooperation of free and enslaved individuals and communities, black, white, men, and women, rural and urban, who pushed the nation one step closer to universal freedom. The Emancipation Proclamation and ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment in 1865 formally abolished slavery.