This Escaped Slave’s Incredible Journey To Grand Rapids

In the 1800s, the United States was at one of its most tense moments. The industrial northern states and the agricultural southern states found themselves at odds in almost every way: "economically, politically, and socially." The South's reliance and strong belief in the enslavement of African-Americans vs the North's increased resentment towards slavery and wanting to end it culminated in a bloody Civil War in 1861.

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Before, during, and after the Civil War, African Americans used the Underground Railroad to escape slavery and find solace in the North. One of these escaped slaves lived an insane life before eventually making his way to Grand Rapids. 

Meet Isaac Bailey.

Issac Bailey: Escapee, Sailor, Soldier, Father

Michigan played a crucial role in the Underground Railroad, with many of the essential locations highlighted by the Michigan DNR's Michigan Freedom Trail, a map showing sites around Michigan with "verifiable connections to the Underground Railroad". Grand Rapids' connection is to a man named Issac Bailey.

READ MORE: America’s Largest School Bombing Happened in Michigan, 1927

According to the Michigan Freedom Trail, Isaac Bailey was born in 1816 in Virgina. After "protecting himself from abuse at the hands of an overseer", he escaped to Canada in 1852, where he became a sailor.

Despite the way the US treated him and other African Americans, Bailey made the courageous choice to return to the United States and volunteer for the First New York Cavalry as a horse keeper.

After his time in the service, Bailey married and settled in Grand Rapids, where he had six children and lived to be 105 years old. He passed away in 1921. The location of Issac's gravestone is available to visit at Oakhill Cemetery.

Issac lived many different lives during his long life, and it's nice that West Michigan served as a safe place for him.