Groups to re-enact Matson slave trial: Lincoln took part in precedent setting case

"It's growing by the minute," said Renee Henry, the coordinator of the Sept. 18 and 19 Coles County event.

The Matson slave trial is considered one of the 10 most important cases in which Lincoln participated and as a turning point for the free black community at Brushy Fork, near Oakland. Lincoln represented the master-enslaver Matson, the only time he represented an enslaver.

Three organizations - Oakland Landmarks Inc., the Oakland Historical Foundation and the Independence Pioneer Village - are working together on the project, funded by the city of Oakland and the Chamber of Commerce. Renee Henry was hired as the coordinator. She previously had worked for the Oakland Historical Foundation.

Henry estimates as many as 50 people will be needed to act in a 35-minute play in the historic Columbian Building in Oakland. The play will be written and directed by David Jorns, former Eastern Illinois University president and a theater performer.

"It's an ambitious project," Henry said. "We hope it will continue year after year."

Students in fifth through 12th grades are invited to presentations from 9 to 11:15 a.m. or 11:45 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sept. 18. The students will visit two historic sites and meet the people involved, watch a performance about the trial, address Illinois social science goals and challenge preconceived notions of history. The cost is $4 per student, and two adults are free.

Educational goals include:

n African-American history in Illinois includes enslaved and free men. Those who gained freedom chose between living here within the restrictions of the "black laws," such as at Brushy Fork, or colonizing to Liberia.

n National and state laws existed about slavery that were often in conflict, and the court system played a critical role in the resolution of those dilemmas.

n Abolitionists existed in Illinois and Coles County, although their positions were unpopular with the public.

Public programs will be from 4 to 8:30 p.m. each day and from 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sept. 19. Admission is $20, including an 1847 meal, visits to historic sites in Oakland and Independence Pioneer Village and a performance of the play.

bfallstrom@herald-review.com|421-7981

Details on the trial

This is a story of bittersweet daring and historical mystery, involving one of the most divisive issues of our early history: slavery. It reveals hidden parts of our history, affirms faith in the legal system, raises questions about moral bearing and actions and reflects how we remember or mythologize our heroes.

The conflict began when Robert Matson brought some of his Kentucky slaves to work on his farm in northern Coles County in 1845. The group included Jane Bryant and her four children. Jane's husband, Anthony Bryant, was a freed man who worked and lived at the farm, too.

Mary Corbin, Matson's mistress and housekeeper, threatened that the children would be sold south in August 1847. The Bryants chose to fight back and sought help from Gideon Ashmore in Independence, now known as Oakland. Ashmore enlisted Dr. Hiram Rutherford to provide guidance and financial assistance.

Jane Bryant and her children, ages 3 to 14, were in jail for 58 days awaiting a circuit court trial to determine if they were fugitives according to Illinois Black Laws. When the circuit court convened Oct. 16, 1847, two state Supreme Court justices, who were circuit judges at the time, were present, along with Lincoln, a former Illinois attorney general, a member of Congress and an Illinois state senator.

The decision was that the Bryants were free because the Illinois Constitution did not allow slaves to be held on state soil unless in transit.

Scholars believe that the trial may have been arranged to be precedent-setting as it was highly unusual for two circuit judges to sit at a trial and for them then to publish an opinion.

Following the trial, the Bryants returned to Oakland and then sailed for Liberia in January 1848. Their eventual fate is unknown.

The trial and the commotion surrounding it not only affected the Bryants, but also other African-Americans living in the region. A small community of African-Americans, called Brushy Fork for the river that ran through it, was located about 10 miles southwest of the Matson farm.

- BOB FALLSTROM