Toronto's Historical Plaques
Learn a little of Toronto's history as told through its plaques.
Thornton and Lucie Blackburn
On the grounds of a school at the corner of Sackville Street and Eastern Avenue two historic plaques, near the bottom left in the photo, tell us about the lives of Thornton and Lucie Blackburn who arrived in Toronto via the Underground Railroad. The Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada plaque says this:
The Blackburn's determination to build free lives provides a window on the experience of many refugees in the Underground Railroad era. Having fled slavery in Kentucky, they were arrested in Detroit in 1833. Their capture sparked riots and in the confusion they managed to escape to Upper Canada. Here, the government twice defended them against extradition, and by 1834 the couple had settled in Toronto. Respected citizens, they established the city' first cab company, worked for Abolition and contributed to the well-being of their community.
Location Co-ordinates: 43.653664 -79.359307
Photo by Alan L Brown - September 2006
The Parks Canada plaque gives us this information:
In 1985, archaeologists digging on this site uncovered fascinating clues to Toronto's history as a terminus of the famous Underground Railway. From 1834 to 1890, this site had been the home of Thornton and Lucie Blackburn, refugee slaves from Kentucky who started Toronto's first taxicab company. Thornton and Lucie Blackburn escaped on July 3, 1831 by taking a steamboat up the Ohio River from Louisville to Cincinnati and then a stagecoach to Michigan. Their recapture in Detroit two years later resulted in the 'Blackburn Riots of 1833'. Detroit's Black community staged a dramatic rescue and aided the Blackburns across the border to safety in Canada. Despite two extradition requests by Michigan's governor, they were allowed to remain free and begin their new lives in Canada. The Blackburn's became well-known members of Toronto's African Canadian community. They helped to build Little Trinity Anglican Church, and contributed to efforts organized to assist other freedom-seekers, both in Toronto and at Buxton in southwestern Ontario. Thornton participated in the 'North American Convention of Colored Freemen' at St. Lawrence Hall in September of 1851, and was an associate of George Brown in anti-slavery activities. The excavation of the Blackburn's former home remains the only archaeological dig on an Underground Railway site ever conducted in Toronto. In 1999, the Department of Canadian Heritage designated Thornton and Lucie Blackburn 'Persons of National Historic Significance' in recognition of their generosity to the less fortunate and their lifelong resistance to slavery and racial oppression.
Photo by Alan L Brown - September 2006
Here are the comments for this page.
Posted September 8, 2008
Have there been any words of Lucie and Thornton preserved for us?
duke.vipperman@sympatico.ca
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