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New research into Old Slave House takes a different approach
The future of the Gallatin County Old Slave House remains uncertain, as the state of Illinois has kept the historic 1838 home closed to visitors until enough funds can be procured. George Sisk, the former owner, is pictured in front of the house in the spring of 2002.
Crenshaw Mansion on Hickory Hill near Equality, also known as the Old Slave House, has been the site of speculation and controversy for many generations. Old tourist brochures say the former owner of the 19th century home kidnapped freed slaves, keeping them on the third floor of his mansion until he could sell them into slavery in the South. Wild rumors endorsed by the owners of the house until it was bought and closed by the state in 1996 fuel an image of terror.
But no one knows if the rumors are true.
Kevin Foster, a professor of anthropology at SIUC, recently undertook a research project to find the truth behind the tales that swirl around the house's supposed darker years.
"The site is a little bit of a lightening rod for issues related to the history of the region," he said. "We want to look at that."
The Old Slave House, built in 1838, captured the attention of Foster about two years ago when he joined the SIUC Anthropology Department. He was first introduced to the house through a tour sponsored by the College of Liberal Arts designed to familiarize new faculty with Southern Illinois.
Because the house had a contested history, Foster decided it warranted more research and applied for a faculty seed grant to fund his research. Faculty seed grants are money the University uses to encourage members of the faculty to participate in research, according to John Koropchack, vice chancellor for research at SIUC.
Even though Foster did not receive a grant in spring 2002, he revised his application and reapplied the next year, receiving $2,800 to pay for equipment, travel and a research assistant. Foster, along with his research assistant Tequia Hicks, a sophomore in political science and philosophy from Carbondale, began research into the house this summer.
"We're tackling it in two different angles," Foster said. "One is to look at the research that's been done on the slave house and the related matters in the region and see just what is known and can be established about the house ... Secondly, since it's such an interesting and controversial site, we also want to look at the meaning the site holds for the region."
Foster said he hopes his research will help dispel the rumors about the house and assist with the decisions involved with its proposed reopening. Eventually, he wants to bring in experts in different fields to verify when the house was built and whether or not some of the rumors, such as bars on the doorways, were even plausible.
Hicks is in the process of preparing a PowerPoint presentation that organizes the findings of their preliminary research that will be put on file for anyone who wants to use it. Foster said he hopes to share his findings with middle and high school-age children as well as adults in the hopes of educating the public about the past. What Foster and Hicks have found so far is a plethora of rumors.
According to a brochure used to attract tourists to the house until it was shut down in 1996, the attic of the Crenshaw Mansion was a terrible place, with rooms full of bloodstains that fresh air never reached.
The brochure related that when the house was designed, the builder had an idea of a use for the third story. That use was holding kidnapped freed slaves in its dark, narrow confines. It said no windows touched the rooms, which flank the main corridor of the floor. Two "whipping posts," where slaves were supposedly hung by their thumbs and whipped as punishment, and narrow bunked beds remain to this day.
Doorways where iron bars might have held captured freed slaves and ball-and-chains found in the yard of the old mansion add to the rumors.
"There is no evidence that any blacks were kept in the attic," said John Simon, a professor of history at SIUC.
Simon categorized the rumors about the house into four main parts: a visit from Lincoln, kidnapping and selling of African Americans as slaves, a stud slave and ghosts in the attic.
One story says Abraham Lincoln visited the house in 1840 on his presidential campaign and slept in one of the rooms on a lower floor. Other stories relate Crenshaw kept a "stud slave," called Uncle Bob, who he would use to impregnate African American women so they would be more valuable when they were sold.
Locals of the area supposedly would relate horrifying stories of wailing sounds during the night and bloodstained rooms, according to the brochure. Simon said those stories are pure conjecture, used to attract more tourists to the house.
The lack of true facts about the house's history and true knowledge of the use of the third floor is what Foster said he intends to remedy. The deeper goal behind his research, however, is to discover what the Old Slave House can tell us about Illinois' history and the relations between Caucasians and African Americans.
Illinois entered the nation in 1818 as a free state, yet practices in Southern Illinois paint a very different picture, Foster said. Though the rumors that Crenshaw kidnapped freed slaves and sold them as slaves is not fact, Foster said that the practice was very common in this area at that time.
"You start looking into the history, and you see that slavery was basically allowed in this state - after the 1818 constitution," Foster said. "This is something I would think every Illinoisan should know."
Foster said through his research, he has found that Illinois passed laws, much like the black codes in the South, to discourage the entrance of African Americans into the state and restrict their movement once here. Other laws required freed slaves to produce a certificate of freedom; those who could not were immediately indentured.
There are many different opinions about reopening the site, Foster said. Many people, including members of the group Open it NOW! Friends of the Old Slave House wish to see the site reopened as part of Illinois' history. Others believe the opening the house would just be another way to make money off an African-American tragedy, Foster said.
"This is a very sensitive area," Foster said. "And it's one that has been dealt with very lightly and casually by many folks, even though what we're talking about are indeed horrific claims."
Foster said he hopes if the house is reopened, it would not only be a resource to the region but also be a way to help everyone who visits better understand the racial history of Illinois.
"African Americans' past has been systematically underwritten or miswritten or misconceived for centuries now," Foster said. "By going back to these sites and sort of recovering the truth to the extent that's possible and also exploring and understanding the ways people are reconfiguring the truth, we vindicate African Americans' past, reclaim history, honor our ancestors and, at the same time, we pave a way to understanding the process of knowledge creation so we can take control of it and be proactive in creating a more positive and empowering future."
