Rochelle Bush, a longtime public historian of the Underground Railroad, hopes to talk about “anything good that happened, as well as anything bad that happened” on that trail on both sides of the Niagara River.
Niagara Parks will host Bush at McFarland House on Feb. 28 for a talk titled “The Freedom Trail: Slave Catchers, Runaways and Abolitionists.”
Bush said she hopes to revisit ideas about the Underground Railroad that have been forgotten or dismissed over time.
“All it is, is hidden history that I’m bringing to the forefront again,” she said. “It’s not like it’s a major discovery, because the information has been collecting dust. It just takes someone to come along, find it, and bring it to the forefront again.”
This is a brand new talk from Bush. She discussed with The Lake Report cases like that of Solomon Moseby, an escaped enslaved person who was arrested in Canada for horse stealing, meaning he stole his enslaver’s horse to escape.
He faced deportation back to the United States. Bush said there was considerable pressure from Moseby’s former owner to have him returned.
The community of Niagara-on-the-Lake and the surrounding area then rallied to Mosby’s defence. Bush said they surrounded the court house for an “extended period of time” to make sure Moseby wasn’t transported out in the middle of the night.
Two Black residents, Herbert Holmes and Jacob Green, were killed. Moseby later fled to England and eventually came back to the Niagara area.
She said this is a case that is still cited today in immigration cases.
Stories like this have inspired Bush for a long time. She began her career in a research position in Toronto in 1994 before eventually returning to St. Catharines, where she was born and raised.
She is now a trustee and resident historian at Salem Chapel, BME Church Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Historic Site, and the owner and operator of Tubman Tours Canada.
While she holds a diploma from Niagara College, Bush said her expertise comes largely from her own interest in the subject, while also following the standards of the American and Canadian Historical Associations.
Bush said she has spoken at Niagara Parks events before and has consistently drawn good crowds. She hopes people will attend despite busy schedules and possible winter weather.
“In the winter, it’s hard,” she said. “Anybody who can pull in 20 people is a success.”
Tickets for Bush’s talk and other Niagara Parks public events are available at niagaraparks.com/events/event/celebrating-black-history.
