Erastus Hussey lived in Battle Creek. He opposed slavery as an activist, a legislator and as publisher of the Michigan Liberty Press, the offspring of the Signal of Liberty. Hussey, his wife, Sarah, and their daughter Susan were part of a local, state and national network that helped many African Americans who had been enslaved avoid recapture. As a member of the Michigan Antislavery Society and the Michigan Senate in 1855, Hussey was one of the senators who introduced P.A. 162, the Personal Freedom Act. The act said that state and local officials could not cooperate with agents of slavery. It instituted fines and jail time as punishment for anyone who tried to capture African Americans and provided legal assistance to those accused of escaping from slavery.

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• Many Sides of the Law

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Updated 08/26/2010