Henry Green and his for-bearers were remnants of Native/Negroes living in area known as the Welsh Mountains in Southeastern Pennsylvania.  Europeans on first Contact conferred the name, Black Minqua on Natives.  In the 1700’s Tom and Joseph Green were clearing lands under a warrant issued by the State.  The story of the Green men is an American story, one in which a community struggles to live surrounded by repression.

     On September 11, 1851, Henry stepped in to History and his life was changed forever. He and other Free Blacks in the community answered a call for assistance, and by the time it was over a white slave owner was dead. Although it took place in Pennsylvania, the slaveowner was within his legal rights to demand his, "Property." 

      In 1850, the Fugitive Slave Act was passed giving Southern Slave Owners Legal Power to confiscate slaves whereever they were.  Frederick Douglass called the Christiana Resistance, a Precourser to the Civil War.  The event made a hero out of Henry and his neighbors to some and a vilian to others. Henry came out of the Welsh Mountains to assist a friend..., not knowing the consequenes facing them.

    The inhabitants of the Welsh Mountains were remnants of the Minqua, mixed raced Indian/negro, and their descendants.  Once disenfranchised whites move into the mountains, the intermixing continued creating a people of brown and white hues.  
    

     It is necessary to have a historical backdrop in which to tell Henry’s story, and his actions on September 11, 1851.  For the story can only be understood through history, before and after the event.   Follow the story of the Green men from Tom through Grandson Henry and you will understand why this is a story that needed to be told.  This is our story to tell, from our minds, hearts, and spirits.

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