"It is better to light a
candle than to curse the darkness."
- Chinese proverb
We chose "Candle in the Window" as our name and mission
because in the times of fleeing slavery, a desperate man or
woman knew they would get help at a home if they saw a
light burning in the window late at night. Today, women in
dire situations need that same kind of life-line, offering
free, selfless help at a time when the government is once
again supporting those who will hurt them.
Brief History of Abolition, the Underground Railroad and
other relief efforts.
In the 1830s a handful of people shook up
the American North from its indifference toward slavery.
With the U.S. Congress maintaining a "gag" order on the
subject, and frustrated abolitionists fighting among
themselves, the peaceful united movement collapsed by 1840.
From then till the Civil War (1861) there were 3 strands of
Abolitionist: anti-political pacifists, political and
violent. The Political group ran their first presidential
candidate (James Gillespie Birney) in 1840 after Whig
candidate William Henry Harrison backtracked and said he
was "personally against slavery" but he
could not impose his views on the nation. Meanwhile the
Pacifist wing would continue to shun politics, although
writers like William Lloyd Garrison gave the South the
impression that "the wrath of God" would soon be dealt to
them violently at the hands of Northerners. The Violent
wing would also give the Cause a bad name, defending a
printing press with guns (Elijah Lovejoy was killed doing
it) and then with John Brown's failed violent revolt at
Harper's Ferry.
When did men and women resort to the Underground
Railroad?
Attempted escapes were few before 1840. But
once it became clear that the government would remain
completely closed to Abolitionist reasoning, enslaved men
and women increasingly took matters into their own hands.
They had already been patient for years, despite hearing
legends about freedom in a land called Canada. With the
breakdown of the united Abolitionist
movement they began to escape in droves, and the success of
former neighbors made more and more people bold enough to
try.
Of course, the Federal Government tightened the laws and
penalties, and put a great deal of money into capturing
runaways, rather than examining the system and finding ways
to truly remedy the situation. Government
authorities even expected ordinary citizens to act against
their consciences and betray runaways that had come to them
for help. Regardless of their approach to changing laws or
the system, all 3 abolitionist factions would provide
shelter for the growing number of people fleeing for their
lives. During the 20 years before the Civil War, more than
30,000 men and women would escape to Canada. Perhaps more
than 100,000. How did they do it? Many were aided by people
who opened their homes to them along the way.
In more recent history, brave men and women have
made it their business to provide shelter and help for
people who chose not to harm others in saving their own
lives. Countries have included Armenia, Nazi Germany,
Rwanda, Vietnam, Cuba, Korea, China, the then-Soviet Union,
Serbia and others. The many genocides of the 20th century
weren't only damaging to the victims. The perpetrators
themselves did things they'd regret -- and which have taken
decades to overcome and find healing, if they've even been
able to reach that point; many have not. So many nations
still live under the stigma of what they did to their
defenseless victims and the damage is no less real at the
individual level.
Won't you open your door and offer alternatives to
young women who might otherwise do something they'll regret
for the rest of their lives?
