IF YOU are familiar with the life and
However, if you were among the Stafford residents who asked, "Anthony who?" recently when you heard the name of our newest elementary school, pull up a chair and allow me to share a little county history.
Burns was born a slave in Stafford in 1834. And, remarkably, by the time he was 20 years old, he was one of the most well-known black men in America. Although he sought only freedom and not fame, Burns became the central character in a celebrated trial that attracted national attention and sparked the so-called "Boston Slave Riot."
How could that be?
Well, it had to do with a controversial national law (the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850), a determined owner (prominent Stafford merchant Charles Suttle) and several members of Boston's antislavery movement (including Theodore Parker, Ralph Waldo Emerson and William Lloyd Garrison).
But it mostly had to do with Burns, whose name would be long forgotten today had he not been a man of courage, boldness and fortitude.
Burns, who was known as "Tony" in Stafford, had been the youngest of 13 children. The Suttle family lived near Stafford Courthouse and later at Aquia Creek. At some point, Burns learned basic reading and writing skills from white friends and also developed deep religious convictions.
By 1854, Burns was one of several Suttle family slaves who were hired out to work in Richmond. That's how he came to escape as a stowaway on a ship bound for Massachusetts. Wearing all the clothes he had, Burns endured three weeks of winter chill, seasickness and hunger before reaching Boston.
Within three months, however, Suttle intercepted a letter from Burns to one of his brothers and had the fugitive slave arrested. That action set in motion a series of events that included a mass anti-slavery rally at Faneuil Hall, the so-called "riot," which was a hastily planned and poorly executed attempt to rescue Burns by storming the courthouse, and a three-day trial monitored by the national press.
According the the Fugitive Slave Act, a slave owner needed only an affidavit describing the fugitive and a convincing argument that the captive was indeed his property. No defense was guaranteed.
If Burns had admitted that he owed service to Suttle and agreed to return to Virginia, the episode would have created little notice. But when he accepted legal assistance from the abolitionists, Burns raised the stakes--not only for himself, but for the anti-slavery cause nationwide.
From the Southern perspective, the Fugitive Slave Act was simply the law of the land and a necessary protection of property rights. Judge Edward G. Loring agreed, and ruled on June 2, 1854, that Burns should be returned to Virginia as a slave.
President Franklin Pierce backed up the judge's decision by placing Boston under martial law and ordering a military guard of 2,000 men to escort Burns from the federal courthouse to the city wharf. An estimated 50,000 people lined the streets of Boston to watch.
Although the legal system did not support Burns' bid for freedom, the episode did arouse Northern sentiment against slavery, slave owners and slave catchers.
Burns was sold to a plantation owner in Rocky Mount, N.C., a few months after the trial. But eventually a group of abolitionists were able to purchase his freedom and help him achieve celebrity status in the North. He addressed large audiences in New York and Boston and contributed details of his life to author Charles Emery Stevens in 1856 for a book titled "Anthony Burns: A History."
Burns attended Oberlin College in Ohio on a scholarship provided by an anonymous Boston resident and also studied at Fairmont Theological Seminary in Cincinnati. He is believed to be the first black man born in Stafford to get a college education.
In 1859, Burns served briefly
Burns had been in poor health since his slave days, and he died of tuberculosis in 1862 at age 28. He is buried in St. Catherines.
Clearly, Burns made quite an impact during a life that ended much too soon. And now that impact will continue at the new Anthony Burns Elementary School in Austin Ridge, which will offer students a chance to learn more about this remarkable man and his struggle for freedom.
It also should be noted that Burns is still remembered in Boston.
The handcuffs he wore as a prisoner are part of The Bostonian Society's collection of Burns' artifacts. In addition, a play titled "The Trial of Anthony Burns" is performed for selected groups by Discovering Justice, a nonprofit organization that sponsors educational programs about the federal judiciary. And the Massachusetts Historical Society has two checks that were used to purchase Burns' freedom and two letters from Burns to his lawyer, Richard Henry Dana Jr.
For details, check out these Web sites: bostonhistory.org, discover ingjustice.org and masshist.org.
Perhaps the best source of information on the Burns case is "The Trials of Anthony Burns: Freedom and Slavery in Emerson's Boston" by Albert J. von Frank. It is available at the Central Rappahannock Regional Library.
To reach LEE WOOLF:
Email: lwoolf@freelancestar.com