Ex-slave's Catholic activism is drawing new attention
House in preservation fight is on grounds where Rudd was born
Daniel Rudd was an evangelist for the Catholic faith, which he saw as a champion for racial reconciliation.
Feb 2, 2013
Written by
Peter Smith
Born a slave in Bardstown, Ky., in 1854, Daniel Rudd was valued at $250 by age 4 under his owner’s property records.
But according to his own later words, he absorbed a sense of far greater value from the faith he learned as a child in that historic Catholic city — one that fueled his passion as one of the leading voices for civil rights later in the 19th century.
Rudd’s legacy — while known in some academic and black Catholic circles — is getting broader publicity these days because of a preservation dispute in Bardstown.
Some local and state activists are calling for the preservation of an antebellum red-brick mansion, named Anatok, which was the home of Catholic slaveholders Charles and Matilda Haydon. Rudd was born a slave on their plantation.
http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20130201/COLUMNISTS22/302010130/Faith-Works-Ex-slave-s-Catholic-activism-drawing-new-attention
http://www.nbccongress.org/aboutus/daniel-rudd-acacia-tree-mission.asp#acacia-tree