Lansing, MI – State Representative Dale Zorn this week led the Michigan House’s adoption of a resolution to recognize Abolitionist Day in Michigan.
Zorn was joined in Lansing by Robert Haviland, the fifth-great nephew of Laura Haviland, a trailblazer in the American abolitionist movement. Robert was presented with a tribute recognizing her life’s work.
Laura Haviland’s home in Adrian served as the first Underground Railroad location in Michigan. Haviland funded in 1839 the Raisin Institute in Lenawee County’s Raisin Township. The school was open to all students of “good moral character, regardless of sex or color”.
Haviland died in 1898 in Grand Rapids and was buried next to her husband in Raisin Valley Cemetery in Adrian.