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A glimpse of African-American history in the Juniata Valley

LEWISTOWN–According to records from both the Juniata and Mifflin county historical societies, black history in the Juniata Valley has roots that go as far back as the mid 1700s.

R. Anthony, a black person born in 1766, was one of 132 black or bi-racial residents in Juniata County, recorded in the 1850 census. Anthony was living in Beale Township at the time, as were 10 other Beale Township residents, of African-American heritage. Recorded in the same Juniata County census, were approximately 114 other residents of either black or bi-racial decent.

One of those Juniata County residents was Corporal William Moulton. According a 2016 article in the York Dispatch, Moulton “bore his regiment’s flag at the Battle of Hatcher’s Run in Virginia” during the Civil War.

Moulton and his unit fought in the “Battle of the Crater,” part of the Siege of Petersburg in Virginia, and served through the rebel surrender at Appomattox Court House, the article noted. Ultimately, Moulton lived through the war to return to Pennsylvania and was buried in Altoona at his death.

The 1910 census showed African-Americans were business builders, including a farm manager in Milford Township, a farmer in Spruce Hill Township, a Teamster in Port Royal Borough and a father-son barber shop duo in Mifflintown Borough.

Over ten years before the census was taken, Lewistown resident Charles Ball dictated his life story about being an escaped slave, which was later published in 1836 as “Slavery in America: the Life and Adventure of Charles Ball.”

According to Book 1 of “It Happened in Mifflin County,” Ball’s story “chronicles his birth in Maryland to a slave mother, of being sold into slavery and sent to the deep South to work on cotton plantations … (escaping) twice, but … captured and returned to his owners (before he) spent one year’s service in the U.S. Navy … during the War of 1812 … stowed away on a cotton boat bound for Philadelphia on a third and successful attempt to escape … was helped by Quakers to move further north and eventually settled in Lewistown.”

In the last paragraph of his narrative, Ball said, “For the last few years, I have resided about fifty miles from Philadelphia, where I expect to pass the evening of my life, in working hard for my subsistence, without the least hope of ever again seeing, my wife and children: – fearful, at this day, to let my place of residence be known, lest even yet it may be supposed, that as an article of property, I am of sufficient value to be worth pursuing in my old age.”

As of July 1, 2018 the estimated population of African Americans is 0.9 percent in Mifflin County and 0.3 percent in Juniata County. On a broader scale, Pennsylvania is home to nearly 1.5 million African-Americans currently, according to www.governor.pa.gov.

Notable Pennsylvania African-Americans who have impacted black history include Astronaut Guion Blufort, the first African American who visited outer space, offensive baseball player Wilt Chamberlain, Oscar-winning director Lee Daniels and Crystal Bird Fauset, the first African-American woman elected to the Pennsylvania State Legislature.

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