It was in Harrisburg, the capital of Pennsylvania, where legislative action was taken to abolish slavery. Pennsylvania, a hotbed of anti-slavery activity, became the first state to pass such a controversial action. Such activity took various forms and among the holdings of the State Archives & State Library are well over 300 years of the African-American experience in Pennsylvania. These records play an important role in understanding the legacy of slavery, the lives of free blacks in the antebellum North, and the Underground Railroad.

Related Destinations

• National Civil War Museum
  1 Lincoln Center at Reservoir Park
  Harrisburg, PA 17103
  (717) 260-1861
  
  Equally balanced presentations are humanistic in nature without bias to Union or Confederate causes. The drama, The Peculiar Institution - American Slavery, presents slavery as seen by 19th-century Americans, including a dramatic depiction of a slave auction. Hear the words of those who supported and opposed the "peculiar institution" and see rare artifacts from the everyday life of those held in bondage.

• Pennsylvania State Archives
  350 North Street
  Harrisburg, Pennsylvania 17120-0090

• State Library of Pennsylvania
  333 Market Street
  Harrisburg, Pennsylvania 17126-1745