The creation of this electronic Finding Aid is a cooperative venture of Moores Memorial Library (Christiana, Pa.), part of the Library System of Lancaster County, and the Lancaster County Historical Society. Funds for this project were provided by the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA).

The Christiana Resistance was an uprising that occurred when slaveholders from Maryland went to the home of William Parker, a free black living in Christiana, Pennsylvania, to claim fugitives as their property. The bloody confrontation, occurring in 1851, resulted in the death of Edward Gorsuch, the slaveholder, and the escape of William Parker to freedom in Canada. This event challenged the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 and was a precursor of the Civil War.

Moores Memorial Library owns some of the most significant manuscript material relating to the Christiana Resistance. These manuscripts, consisting of letters written by participants in the incident and photographs of the period, are vitally important in the role African-Americans played in the history of Lancaster County, the region and the nation. Click here to access the Christiana Resistance Finding Aid.

The Lancaster County Historical Society has created a Bibliography of African-American Resources and over the last several years developed program initiatives using primary documents in its collection relating to the history of African-Americans in Lancaster County. The Christiana Resistance material is a crucial part of the entire body of information available on this pivotal moment in our nation's history.

We are deeply indebted to the Moores Memorial Library (Christiana, Pa.) for permission to scan this material and make it available to the public. Dedicated employees of the Moores Memorial Library (Christiana, Pa.) and the Lancaster County Historical Society, are responsible for the organization, preservation and scanning of this material and for creating the Christiana Resistance Finding Aid.

Educators are invited to use these resources to develop lesson plans and curriculum units. Please share these documents with others by sending them to Ginger Shelley, librarian of the Lancaster County Historical Society (Ginger.Shelley@lancasterhistory.org). These curriculum aids will be mounted on our website.