Joshua Glover Commemorative Marker

This marker commemorates the 1854 rescue of Joshua Glover, an escaped slave who had been living and working in Racine. When federal marshals captured him and jailed him in Milwaukee, Racine citizens fought back – they broke down the jail door and freed him. Glover escaped to Canada, where he lived the rest of his life in freedom.

Why It Matters: The Declaration of Independence says “all men are created equal”—but in 1854, that was still just words for millions of enslaved people. Racine’s citizens decided to act on those words. Their rescue of Joshua Glover sparked a legal battle that led Wisconsin to become the ONLY state before the Civil War to declare the Fugitive Slave Act unconstitutional.