The Joshua Glover plaque and mural mark a key part of Milwaukee's history
Cathedral Square is home to many summer festivals.
There’s Jazz in the Park, Bastille Days and the dazzling Christmas tree display that wash Cathedral Square in lights at night.
But on the corner of Kilbourn and Jackson stands a metal plaque that marks a little-known event that occurred more than a century and a half ago. Passersby rarely stop to note the significance of that historical marker, erected in 2001 by the Wisconsin Historical Society.
It tells the story of Joshua Glover, an escaped slave from Missouri. Glover found refuge and freedom in Wisconsin until he was captured and jailed under the 1850 Fugitive Slave Act. His imprisonment stirred nearly 5,000 anti-slavery demonstrators who stormed the Milwaukee County Jail — which stood on present-day Cathedral Square — to break Glover out on March 10, 1854.
But Glover was still a wanted man.
The Fugitive Slave Act called for the recapture of freedom seekers or escaped slaves like Glover to be returned to their owners. Glover was on the run for years fearing recapture by his slave owner, a man named Benammi Stone Garland.
With the help of Wisconsin’s Underground Railroad, a network of safehouses manned by abolitionists who offered safety and shelter to runaway slaves, Glover eventually made his way to Canada and to freedom.
Glover’s story is also depicted on a mural on the 1-43 overpass on Fond du Lac Avenue.
See the rest of Milwaukee's 100 objects
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Joshua Glover plaque, mural mark a key part of Milwaukee's history
