How to Use
the Map

Table of
Contents

1. Find the Mississippi and Illinois rivers. Where is New Philadelphia in relationship to these rivers?

2. Find Griggsville and Alton on the map. These two towns were the sites of racial violence in the 1830s. What does this suggest about racial attitudes in the area around New Philadelphia?

3. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is known as the "City of Brotherly Love." Why do you think Free Frank chose that name for his new town?

4. On a classroom map, identify the states surrounding Illinois. Which of these states were slave states before the Civil War? Which were free states?

5. Do you think free African Americans would have felt safe in New Philadelphia? Why, or why not? Bear in mind that during the period before the Civil War, "slave catchers" could capture formerly enslaved people living in free states and steal or destroy the papers proving their free status. The slave catchers could then carry the freedmen off to slave states and sell them back into bondage.