Campus News

Oberlin-Wellington Rescue 158th anniversary

September 13, 2016

Communications Staff

Described in caption.
Archival image of the citizens and students from Oberlin and Wellington who took part in the rescue of John Price, a runaway slave who faced a return to slavery in Kentucky.
Photo credit: Oberlin College Archives

On September 13, 1858, citizens and students of Oberlin and citizens of Wellington successfully rescued John Price, a runaway slave living in Oberlin, from slave catchers. Price had been forcefully removed from the outskirts of Oberlin to the Wadsworth House in Wellington, and faced a return to slavery in Kentucky. The events that followed, including an 1859 trial of the Oberlin-Wellington Rescuers in Cleveland and their eventual release from the Cuyahoga County Jail, represented one of Oberlin's most remarkable achievements in the peaceful fight against the institution of slavery and in the moral quest for freedom for black Americans. Information about the Oberlin-Wellington Rescue is available online through the Oberlin College Archives and other organizations focused on Oberlin and its history.

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