This Day in History - Oliver Kelly escaped enslavement from the Richland Plantation

On August 20, 1848, Oliver Kelly escaped enslavement from the Richland Plantation in Clarksville along with 14 others. He made his way north along Westminster Pike (Rt. 97) and then to Pennsylvania. He was assisted by a local miller and later by Quakers. Changing his name to Oliver Cromwell Gilbert to avoid identification, he later became an abolitionist, entertainer, and lecturer. He became quite well known and worked with William Lloyd Garrison and other abolitionists. Oliver later communicated with future governor of Maryland Edwin Warfield (nephew of his enslaver William W. Watkins), and purportedly visited him in his Baltimore office. He settled in Philadelphia, where his great great granddaughter Stephanie Gilbert acquired his memoir from the owner of an antiques store. Stephanie published an article summarizing the memoir in collaboration with professor Jody Fernald at the University of New Hampshire. A wax figure of Oliver Cromwell Gilbert — commissioned by the Howard County Historical Society — can be seen at the Harriett Tubman Cultural Center on Harriett Tubman Lane. To learn more about the incredible story of his life, the article is available online free of charge.

By: Dr. Mark Stout

Photo credit: Mark Stout