The month of March was “interesting,” and, well, I only have one update to post for the entirety of the month. Our class meeting on March 10 had me rethink the focus of the project to the point where I realized there wasn’t a really good focus, and the project wasn’t all that new or interesting. So back to the drawing board I went. Luckily, spring break was the next week, and I was able to take advantage of the Onondaga Historical Association’s research facility, which is open mostly when I have class and other obligations. March 16-19 I was able to go through the OHA collections on the Jerry Rescue and develop the new focus for my paper. The sources revealed a contest to control the narrative being played out in the local newspapers and picked up by newspapers around the country. The Syracuse Star gave voice to the “law and order” crowd who wanted the “Syracuse rioters” punished for treason in defying the Fugitive Slave Act by rescuing Jerry and sending him to freedom in Canada. The Syracuse Standard was the main voice for the “higher law” group who wanted the “Syracuse rescuers” raised to hero status and those who arrested Jerry to send him back into slavery in Missouri punished for kidnapping.

The story reveals that while Syracuse was increasingly becoming an abolitionist city, a large part of the population, including many of the political leaders, saw the defiance of federal law by the increasingly vocal and active abolitionists as dangerous for the city and country. The sectional crisis was not just sectional but also local. So I went even further back to the drawing board. I rethought my personas, and I am reworking my storyboard as well. My original intent was to create an interactive map focused on the rescue using ArcGIS StoryMaps. Now I will be concentrating on Omeka as the platform and will be including relevant newspaper articles and photographs of key players. I intend on including a map that will show the continued legacy of the events of 1851 on the Syracuse landscape that will include the “Freedom Trail” sites that highlight the abolitionist activities, as well as the prominent place names associated with the “law and order” group.

My biggest challenge now is jump starting again. What I had put into Omeka no longer applies. So I have to choose from the many newspaper articles and get those up on Omeka with the proper metadata. Then I go from there. Suddenly writing a 30 page article seems like a walk in the park. Back to it!