The Benjamin Lyons Story: The Preface

It is past time to take a step back and reflect on our local history to give new insights in our patterns of thinking. Were slaves ever held in our mostly white Bedford County? Was there a separate school just for the black students? Did racial segregation even happen here, too? And most importantly, does prejudice still occur today?

Although Pennsylvania was a northern state and a part of the Union, just north of the Mason-Dixon Line, slavery was allowed until a law was passed in 1780 which gradually emancipated slaves. Although not actually freed, children born to slave mothers would serve a...