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PROFILES IN COURAGE: AFRICAN-AMERICANS IN LOWELL
 
Lowell's Old City Hall

two daughters and two sons.  In 1826, Lewis is a founding member of Boston's General Colored Association "to promote the welfare of the race by working for the destruction of slavery." By 1844, Lewis is one of very small number of Latter Day Saints (Mormon) "Elders" before a long-term Ban on Blacks in the Preisthood is established.

     Peter P. Lewis, Jr. and his wife, Lephia Lovejoy, have three sons and one daughter.  In 1844, an incident occurs in Lowell which creates community wide outrage.  Peter's four children, part of a school group visiting the Chemical Painting Exhibition at Mechanics Hall, are denied entry.  The Lowell newspapers publish strong editorials:
 

We deem it the duty of the press to protest your sort of exclusiveness, having its origin in a narrow-minded prejudice, and to stand up manfully for the rights of the colored citizens when trampled upon in any way.  The proprietor has very much mistaken the public sentiment of Lowell by adopting such a cause; in our public schools, he will see the children of colored parents  sitting side by side with those of white parents, a living evidence of toleration and respect.

Walker Lewis' commitment to the anti-slavery movement is seen in the Nathaniel Booth Case.  In 1844, Booth, an escaping slave, settles in Lowell and opens a barbershop.  When the 1850 Federal Fugitive Slave Law supersedes the 1843 State Personal Liberty Law, “one or two slave catches” are seen in Lowell and Booth flees to Canada.  Shortly, he returns to live with the Lewis family.  The Lowell Free Soilers Party also offers protection.  They publicly encourage escape slaves seeking freedom in Canada to return home to Lowell, 

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