A free black man convicted of helping slaves escape to freedom in the 19th century will be posthumously pardoned by Delaware’s governor, two people who supported the pardon said Tuesday.
Ocea Thomas of Atlanta said in a telephone interview Tuesday that she received a phone call this weekend letting her know that Gov. Jack Markell would pardon Samuel Burris, a free black man and conductor on the Underground Railroad who died in the 1860s and is one of Thomas’ relatives. Email and phone messages left Tuesday for Markell’s spokeswoman, Kelly Bachman, was not immediately returned.
Thomas said she became emotional after learning that Burris, the brother of her great-great-grandmother, would be pardoned.
“I stood there and cried. It was pride. It was relief. I guess justification. All of that,” Thomas said.
In 1847, Burris was caught helping a slave try to escape Delaware and sent to jail. He was tried and found guilty of enticing slaves to escape from their masters. Part of his sentence was that he be sold into slavery for seven years, but a Pennsylvania anti-slavery society raised money to purchase him and set him free.