ByGeorge!

September 2007

GW Remembers Abolitionist, Underground Railroad with Plaque

Former GW Student Association President Lamar Thorpe, Professor Emeritus Amb. Ronald Palmer, President Emeritus Stephen Joel Trachtenberg, and Khalia Alberry, a descendant of Leonard A. Grimes, at the unveiling of the plaque marking Grimes’ former home site.

By Julia Parmley

On July 18, GW recognized the life and legacy of anti-slavery activist and Underground Railroad pioneer Leonard A. Grimes by unveiling a plaque on the site of his former Foggy Bottom home at the corner of H and 22nd streets. The plaque is believed to be the first monument to the Underground Railroad in Washington, D.C.

Born to free black parents in Leesburg, Va., in 1815, Grimes owned a residence at the intersection for a decade starting in 1836. He used his successful coach business to help slaves escape to the North. In 1839, Grimes was arrested for helping a woman named Patty and her six children escape from slavery in Virginia’s Loudoun County. Grimes was convicted, fined $100, and sentenced to two years of hard labor in a Richmond prison.

After his release in 1846, he moved with his family to New Bedford, Mass., and eventually to Boston to become the first pastor of Twelfth Baptist Church, later known as the Fugitives Church, where he continued his abolitionist work. Grimes is thought to have helped hundreds of slaves escape to Canada.

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