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May 6, 2021 · Last Edited February 28, 2023. Thornton and Lucie (Ruthie) Blackburn, freedom seekers, entrepreneurs, anti-slavery activists and community benefactors (Thornton, born c. 1812 in Maysville, Kentucky; died in 1890 in Toronto, ON. Lucie, born c. 1803, possibly in the West Indies; died in 1895 in Toronto). After a dramatic flight from Kentucky ...
Lucie Blackburn. Born. 1803. Died. 1895. Toronto, Canada. Lucie "Ruthie" Blackburn (1803–1895) was a self-emancipated West-Indian, American former slave who escaped to Canada with her husband Thornton Blackburn and helped him establish the first taxi company in Toronto. [1][2]
Maysville, Kentucky. Died. 1890. Toronto, Ontario. Thornton Blackburn (c. 1812–1890) was a self-emancipated formerly enslaved man whose case established the principle that Canada would not return slaves to their masters in the United States and thus established Canada as a safe terminus for the Underground Railroad .
Dec 30, 2011 · Frost speaks of three important events in 1793 of relevance to her narrative of the escape from slavery of Thornton Blackburn and his wife Lucie Blackburn. The first was the passage in that year of the Fugitive Slave Act, which enabled American slaveholders to seek out runaway slaves anywhere in the United States and its territories.
In 1837, Thornton and Lucie established Toronto’s first taxicab service, called The City, which was a horse-drawn cab with one horse and a carriage painted yellow with red trim (the future colour scheme of the TTC). The Blackburns were also deeply involved in their new community, donating to civic building projects and helping freedom seekers arriving in Canada.
majority of enslaved African Americans in the antebellum era, Thornton and Ruthie (later Lucie) Blackburn were illiterate. They remained so all of their lives, even after their escape to Canada; thus they left few written records. However, their remarkable story was unearthed in a schoolyard in 1985 when a team of
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Mar 8, 2017 · Someone recognized Thornton and told the Blackburns’ former owners. Both Thornton and Lucie were arrested and incarcerated. Detroiters protested and packed the balcony of the court during the Blackburn trial, armed and angry. “They swore they would burn Detroit to the ground if the Blackburns were returned to their former owners,” Frost said.
