Summary

“Freedom Fight” describes the process of migration wherein black families fleeing slavery and oppression moved to northern parts of the United States in the mid-nineteenth century. One man, John Jones, arrived in Chicago with his wife in 1845 and put his experiences as a persecuted but free black man to use. He became central to the abolitionists’ movement, working alongside white and black abolitionists to house fleeing slaves. Though they were free, writes Hartfield, Illinois’s laws at the time did not treat black people as equal to white people. Jones and his wife, alongside other abolitionists who congregated often at Quinn Chapel formed ‘liberty associations’ which acted as patrols to protect hidden slaves. The end of slavery brought with it citizenship rights, and by 1871, Jones had become the first black Chicagoan in political office.

“Self-Reliance” describes the sudden loss...