African-American Museum of Philadelphia

     This is a plaque of a printed copy of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, which was part of the Compromise of 1850. It is part of the Audacious Freedom exhibit in the African-American Museum of Philadelphia. It is on display because it is vital to the history of not only African-American history, but also to Philadelphia and the history of the United States at large. The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 made it so that slave catchers were allowed to travel into the northern states (such as Pennsylvania), which meant that escaped slaves could be caught, and shipped back down to the South to receive severe punishment from their masters, such as the lashes this slave received:

This act also meant that free blacks could be arrested and sent into slavery even if they were free, like Solomon Northup was. As a result of this, escaped slaves had to travel to Canada to be free, and they usually did this on the Underground Railroad. This plaque is displayed with as series of other plaques that are documents or faces of people as a collage behind a long reading rail. The surrounding plaques constitute two illustrations, one titled "Am I Not a Man and a Brother?" and the other one titled "Am I Not a Woman and a Sister?"; a headline of the Pennsylvania Freeman; and a paper by Frederick Douglas, all of which illustrate the militant abolitionism that was going on during this time period. The caption for this plaque does not present much information. It states what it is, who wrote the summary of the act at the bottom of the plaque, and a one sentence quote from Section 9 of the Fugitive Slave Law. However, while it does give minimal information, it is informative.

     To increase my understanding or exploration of this Act, I could read William Still's book about the Underground Railroad, research how this affected the territories such as Nebraska and Kansas, if anyone in the North was caught and thrown in jail due to helping escaped slaves, and researching the supporters of this Act and why. It is these supporters who could present to us a different point of view and would tell us why, economically, politically, socially, and/or personally they supported this bill. It is quite possible because many of them were slaveowners and this would make it easier for them to find their escaped slaves.

     The people who would not be interested in this object would be those people who are not interested in African-American, Philadelphia, and/or American history, especially the antebellum or abolitionist periods. To engage visitors with this object, I could give them either a copy, a section, a few quotes, or the gist of this Act, something that someone wrote who was against the Act, and something from someone who supported it. Then they could do a compare and contrast and figure out why each side came to the position that they had.