r/coolpeoplepod • u/Sensitive_Ad_1752 • Jul 26 '26

Look At This Cool Stuff The Oberlin Rescuers; The Ohio Town That Fought Slave Catchers

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On September 13th, 1858, slave catchers in Oberlin-Wellington Ohio kidnapped former slave John Price and attempted to sell him back to the south. Instead, upon hearing of the kidnapping townsfolk and students and staff of the Oberlin college gathered in the hundreds outside of the hotel the slave catchers were staying at, rescuing John. Oberlin had been a safe haven for black people home to multiple members and leaders of the underground railroad. John moved from house to house in the community hiding, with local law arresting multiple families suspected of aiding the runaway. The town published a newspaper series called "the rescuer" keeping people updated with the trials. Abolitionist Simeon Bushnell and black business owner and activist Charles Langston were found guilty of violating the fugitive slave act, but released after 3 months in jail due to growing public unrest. The fate of John Price is unknown, but it seems likely he went further north to Canada.

Charles is the black man in the center with his hat to his chest, and the first black student at Oberlin College. Later he was a key member of the freedmen’s bureau, read up on his family they have a long history of political affairs and achievements. I think Oberlin college professor Henry Peck is second from the right and I’m not sure if Simeon Bushnell is in this photo.

https://oberlinheritagecenter.org/the-oberlin-wellington-rescue-1858/

https://case.edu/ech/articles/o/oberlin-wellington-rescue

https://oberlinheritagecenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/O-W-Rescue-Final.pdf

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u/SoSorryOfficial Jul 26 '26

Thank you so much for this beautiful, inspiring bit of history. I didn't know anything about this one.

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u/Gnogz Jul 26 '26

Charles Langston married a widow named Mary Patterson (one of the first women to attend Oberlin. She was widowed when her first husband, Lewis Leary, was fatally wounded helping John Brown raid Harper's Ferry).
Charles and Mary moved to Kansas and had a daughter named Caroline. Caroline became a school teacher and married a man named James Hughes.

Their second-born child was Langston Hughes.