Its role in the Underground Railroad could earn Jackson train station national historic recognition
Updated Feb 23, 2021;
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JACKSON, MI Jackson’s historic train station has long been credited for its role in developing the city’s economy.
But on Tuesday, Feb. 23, officials announced an effort to give the station national credit for its contribution to the Underground Railroad that helped Black slaves from the southern U.S. escape to freedom in the 19th century.
Jackson historians want to add the nearly 150-year-old Amtrak station to the National Park Service’s National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom. Approval of such a request and a marker to place at the station would highlight its significance in the anti-slavery movement, they said.
Jackson Train Station Up For National Historic Recognition
As someone born and raised in Jackson, the train station has always held some major significance. I even, like many of us who grew up in the area, got my senior pictures taken there in high school. However, as iconic as the train station is to Jackson residents, it actually has more historical significance than many of us first realized.
There is already so much history behind the 150-year-old Amtrak station and according to MLive it has long been credited for its role in developing the city’s economy.
Now, though, MLive reports this Black History Month historians in Jackson want to add the iconic train station to the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom, run by the National Park Service.
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What has been argued as the most eventful day to happen in Marshall s history started 174 years ago, on January 27th 1847. But in order to know how the events would have significant impact, we have to research the subject of the story, Adam Crosswhite. Adam Crosswhite is actually featured in the Marshall mural, with his image inside of the S, to commemorate the day he was held captive by fugitive-slave catchers and then rescued by Marshall townspeople.
According to Marshallmich.net, the story goes that:
Adam Crosswhite, a black man, was living in Marshall with his family. At 4:00 a.m., four men from Kentucky came into town, to seize Crosswhite and his family under the Fugitive Slave Law of 1793 and return them to bondage. The men of Marshall were notified of the situation by “Auction Bell” a man riding a horse and ringing a bell. He was shouting that “the slave catchers are at the Crosswhites.” The Marshall group took over and arrested the men from Kentucky, allowin