Lick Creek, Indiana

This chapter examines the relationship of Quakers and free Blacks in Lick Creek to the Underground Railroad. The Lick Creek settlement once existed in the southeast corner of Paoli Township, Orange County, in southern Indiana. In 1817, freeborn African Americans came to the area and purchased land in what later became the Lick Creek settlement. Blacks also came accompanying Quakers fleeing persecution in North Carolina. With the opening of frontier lands for settlement, free Blacks, encouraged by the antislavery provisions of the Northwest Ordinance, joined the country's westward passage to the Northwest Territory. This chapter first provides a background on Quakers and free Blacks at Lick Creek before focusing on William Paul Quinn's arrival in Indiana, where he built AME churches that became an important focal point of the Lick Creek community. It then considers the antislavery efforts of free Blacks, Quakers, and citizens of conscience working on the Underground Railroad on behalf of escaped slaves. It also discusses the participation of Indiana's Blacks in the Civil War.