The John Johnson House (also known as the Johnson House) is a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places liste ...

in the

Germantown Germantown or German Town may refer to: Places Australia * Germantown, Queensland, a locality in the Cassowary Coast Region United States * Germantown, California, the former name of Artois, a census-designated place in Glenn County * G ...

section of

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...

, significant for its role in the antislavery movement and the

Underground Railroad The Underground Railroad was a network of clandestine routes and safe houses established in the United States during the early- to mid-19th century. It was used by enslaved African Americans primarily to escape into free states and Canada. ...

. It is located at 6306 Germantown Avenue and is a

contributing property In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing property or contributing resource is any building, object, or structure which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic distric ...

of the

Colonial Germantown Historic District The Colonial Germantown Historic District is a designated National Historic Landmark District in the Germantown and Mount Airy neighborhoods of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania along both sides of Germantown Avenue. This road followed a Native Americ ...

, which is also a National Historic Landmark. It is operated today as a museum open to the public.

History

Philadelphia, especially its

section, was a center of the 19th-century American movement to abolish

slavery Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

, and the Johnson House was one of the key sites of that movement. Between 1770 and 1908, the house was the residence of five generations of the Johnson family. The third generation was active in the Underground Railroad during the 1850s. Along with their respective spouses, Rowland, Israel, Ellwood, Sarah, and Elizabeth Johnson were members of abolitionist groups such as the

American Anti-Slavery Society The American Anti-Slavery Society (AASS; 1833–1870) was an abolitionist society founded by William Lloyd Garrison and Arthur Tappan. Frederick Douglass, an escaped slave, had become a prominent abolitionist and was a key leader of this socie ...

and the Germantown Freedman's Aid Association. Through their associations with these groups, the brothers and sisters became involved in the Underground Railroad and used their home, along with the nearby homes of relatives, to harbor fugitive slaves on their journeys to freedom. The Johnson House is a representative station on the Underground Railroad, and the Johnsons were among the leading abolitionists of their generation. The house, then one of the largest in Germantown (then a suburb of Philadelphia), was built between 1765 and 1768 by Jacob Norr for Dirck Jansen, who owned the ground on which nearby Upsala was built. Jansen had it built for his son John Johnson, Sr. During the 1777

Battle of Germantown The Battle of Germantown was a major engagement in the Philadelphia campaign of the American Revolutionary War. It was fought on October 4, 1777, at Germantown, Pennsylvania, between the British Army led by Sir William Howe, and the American Con ...

, fighting occurred nearby and the house still bears marks of musket balls and cannonballs.

References

External links

*
National Park Service pageNPS National Historic Landmark Listing
*
Johnson House Historic Site collection on the Johnson Family
fro
Johnson House Historic Site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, John, House African-American history in Philadelphia African-American museums in Pennsylvania Biographical museums in Pennsylvania Historic American Buildings Survey in Philadelphia Historic district contributing properties in Pennsylvania Historic house museums in Philadelphia Houses completed in 1768 Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Philadelphia Houses on the Underground Railroad National Historic Landmarks in Pennsylvania Germantown, Philadelphia 1768 establishments in Pennsylvania Underground Railroad in Pennsylvania

History

See also

References

External links