In February 1837, nine Fredericksburg black women, presumably slaves, sent a petition to Congressman John Quincy Adams, asking for the abolition of slavery.

The only two women named on the petition were Susan Loushing and Rachael Steers. Names of the others have been lost through time. But Loushing clearly wanted the signers kept secret; she asked that “Mr. Patton” not know of the petition “as he is mightily against such doings.”

Loushing recognized how things were done in politics, even in those days. “I hope you good men would do something in this business, but it seems all talk up with you in Congress.”

Our history
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• Gabriel Prosser, inspired by the Bible • Noah Davis, freed his family • Fannie Richards ahead of her time	• John J. Wright devoted leader, reader • Walker-Grant, the men behind the school name • Buffalo soldiers, one earned highest military honor	• Urbane Bass, city doctor • Maddens of Culpeper, 'We were always free' • H.H. Poole, Stafford institution	• Sadie Combs, first teacher at Snell • Philip Wyatt, Soft-spoken activist • Palmer Hayden, Painter of the people	• Venus Jones, First black graduate of MWC • The Lovings, In the National Spotlight • John DeBaptist, Revolutionary War sailor
• Rachael Steers and Susan Loushing, petitioning for change
Sources: "A Different Story" by Ruth Coder Fitzgerald; HistoryPoint.org of the Central Rappahannock Regional Library; The Free Lance-Star archives; State of Michigan Web site; African Within; The Kennedy Center; We Were Always Free By T.O. Madden Jr.; The Richmond Times-Dispatch; Life Magazine; Westmoreland County, Virginia.