A passageway hidden below a dresser at the Merchant's House Museum had long been a mystery. Then researchers learned that the home's original builder was an abolitionist.

This is read by an automated voice. Please report any issues or inconsistencies here. In one version of U. S. history, California is a place where slavery was prohibited from the founding, in the 1849 state constitution, and where that ban was reaffirmed by the state's ratification of the 13th Amendment in 1865.