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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]
- Piecing Together The Blackburns’ Story
- Early Lives
- Escape to Detroit
- Trial and Escape to Canada
- Liberation
- Settlement in Toronto
- Community Involvement
- Later Lives
- Commemoration
- Key Terms
In 1985, archaeologists (see Archaeology) working in a downtown Torontoschoolyard unearthed the foundations of a small house, a barn and an earthen root cellar. This had once been the site of Thornton and Lucie Blackburn’s home and business. With support from the Toronto Board of Education, the Ontario Black History Society, and the Ontario governm...
Thornton Blackburn’s tombstone in the Toronto Necropolis states that he was born in Maysville, Kentucky. Maysville is on the Ohio River, which divided the slaveholding South from the free North before the American Civil War (1861–1865). (See also American Civil War and Canada.) Thornton was sold away from his mother when he was only three years old...
Thornton and Ruthie Blackburn feared that she was destined for the “fancy girl” market in New Orleans or Natchez, Mississippi. Rich Southern men and brothel owners went to these markets seeking mistresses and enslaved sex workers. Ruthie and Thornton made a daring escape by steamboat the day before Independence Day, 3 July 1831. Dressed in fine clo...
In June 1833, a traveler from Kentucky recognized Thornton Blackburn on a Detroit street. Reporting his findings to the Blackburns’ respective owners, they sent an attorney and the nephew of the widowed Mrs. Brown arrived in Detroit. The couple were arrested and tried under US federal law as “fugitive slaves.” Black Detroiters packed the courtroom....
Upper Canada’s lieutenant-governor, Sir John Colborne, was no friend of slavery. (See also Slavery Abolition Act, 1833.) When Michigan’s acting governor demanded the Blackburns’ extradition, Colborne asked Attorney General Robert Simpson Jameson to find legal grounds for protecting them. If tried for their supposed “crimes” in an American court, th...
Ruthie Blackburn changed her name to “Lucie” to mark her newfound freedom. After nearly a year at Amherstburg, she and her husband made their way to Toronto in 1834. There, Thornton discovered his brother, Alfred, who had fled Kentucky slavery five years before. Alfred was working on the city’s eastern outskirts for wealthy brewer Enoch Turner. Luc...
Thornton Blackburn only ever owned one cab, but his business was very successful. He and Lucie lived modestly and contributed generously to their community and to their city. Lucie Blackburn gave one of the first donations to build Little Trinity Anglican Church. She and Thornton also billeted incoming freedom seekers in their home. It is believed ...
After the Civil War (1861–65), Thornton and Lucie Blackburn retired. (See also American Civil War and Canada.) Thornton’s cab was given to the York Pioneer and Historical Society, which displayed it at Scadding Cabin on Toronto’s fairgrounds. (See also Canadian National Exhibition.) The couple were able to live off the interest of their investments...
The Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada named the Blackburns Persons of National Historic Significance in 1999. In 2016, George Brown College opened the Lucie and Thornton Blackburn Conference Centre at its first student residence. Including a striking and evocative mural by George Brown College students, this designation commemorates the ...
ExtraditionA legal process by which someone who has committed a crime, or is suspected to have committed a crime, is handed over to the justice system of the place where the crime was committed.
Thornton and Lucie Blackburn were freedom seekers who fled enslavement in Kentucky and established the first taxi business in Upper Canada. The Blackburns, whose story was lost and only re-discovered in 1985, were born enslaved in the United States. Almost extradited after escaping to Canada,
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.
Feb 26, 2020 · Thornton and Lucie Blackburn were designated “persons of national historic significance” by the Government of Canada in 1999. In the epilogue of Frost’s book, she wrote about the couple.
- Melanie Zettler
Nov 11, 2016 · In 1834, as Canadian enslavement of black people ended through the enactment of the British Imperial Act, a couple with Kentucky roots made their way to Toronto. The couple, Thornton and Lucie Blackburn, might have been less remarkable save for a few very significant aspects of their lives. Despite managing to escape the still legal bondage in ...
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Jan 1, 2007 · This meticulously researched book was the result of an archaeological discovery in Toronto in 1985. From this dig, the author, a well respected archaeologist and historian, was able to piece together the lives of Thornton and Lucie Blackburn, long forgotten citizens of Toronto, who had arrived as fugitive slaves, after a harrowing series of escapes. Their story and the
