A Hundred Year Journal: Black Residents in Stephenson County, Illinois
The first African American to arrive in Stephenson County, Illinois came from Virginia in 1832. She was a free woman who stowed away with a white family traveling to Wisconsin, after freeing their enslaved workers had made them unpopular in their original home. Unfortunately, she died along the way and was buried near Cedarville, Illinois—free territory.
Over the years, other African Americans sought freedom and justice in what would become known as the Midwest. After the Civil War, small numbers of emancipated people moved north to places like Stephenson County.
Selection from A Hundred Year Journal: A Pictorial History of the Early Black Settlers of Stephenson County, Illinois, 1830-1930 by Joyce Salter Johnson. Freeport, IL, Stephenson County Historical Society, 2010. Section 3: Black Residents in Stephen County, Illinois Newberry Library Chicago, Illinois
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The Freedman Settlement of Good Hope Mississippi - The Beginning
Written by: Joyce Salter Johnson
The Early Black Settlers of Stephenson County, Illinois, 1830-1930
Written by: Joyce Salter Johnson
Longtime Stephenson County resident Joyce Salter Johnson wanted to know more about her family history, and in 1994 she decided to write the story of the Salter family. But when she talked with her 84-year-old mother three years later, she found much more to the story.
“In my conversation with her I put some focus on her father, Milton Hayden, who had migrated to Freeport in 1916,” Salter Johnson revealed in an interview. “It quickly became apparent that my grandfather’s story was inextricably linked to those of others who had settled in Stephenson County. Curiosity drove me to research, analyze and retell these stories.”
Over a decade later, her efforts have led to two books, “The Early Black Settlers of Stephenson County, Illinois – 1830-1930” and a companion book, “A Pictorial History of Early Black Settlers of Stephenson County, Illinois – 1830-1930.” A grant from the Freeport Community Foundation helped in the publication of the first book, while the second was published because of the Stephenson County Historical Society’s Wurtzel Publication Fund.
