DETROIT – A Detroit historian is working to ensure lesser-known stories of African American history are not lost to time.
Historian and author Sharon Sexton has spent decades researching the Underground Railroad, digging through archives across Detroit and Michigan.
One of her finds was an article from a Detroit daily newspaper from the 1800s. It included an interview with William Lambert.
“This is an interview with one of the Underground Railroad agents who lived long enough to give this interview and talk about the African American mysteries,” Sexton said. “The Order of the Men of Oppression, which was a Masonic-like organization that hid runaways.”
Sexton said she found the article while researching the Underground Railroad nearly three decades ago. While combing through archives, she also discovered a book from the same century about a man describing his escape from enslavement. It also had drawings in it.
At the time, Sexton said she believed other historians would eventually locate the same materials and publish them. After years of searching, she realized that had not happened.
“So many people don’t have this whole {newspaper} article,” Sexton said. “They only have bits and pieces of it. Once you see the whole thing, it’s just mind-blowing.”
And she said this African American history needs to live on so others can learn from it.
“Their story really hasn’t gotten out,” Sexton said. “So now that I’m 70 years old and getting diagnosis, I cannot just sit on this information anymore. Get this information out so people can absorb what these individuals did like 170 years ago.”
Sexton said she initially contacted a publisher about reprinting the historic newspaper article and the book, but they weren’t interested. She has since decided to try and raise money, to reprint, to make the materials available to the public.
She is now raising money to begin the reprinting process, with the goal of preserving the documents and ensuring future generations can learn from them.