Railroad: Did you mean...?

Anna Maria Weems (circa 1840 to circa 1863) was an enslaved African American woman in Rockville, Maryland, who escaped by posing as a young Black livery man and carriage driver, assisted by the Underground Railroad, in September 1855. She...

Steve Leach, aka the HPB Buy Guy, shares the stories behind The Underground Railroad by Rev. W. M. Mitchell.

John Brown (1800-1859) was a militant abolitionist best known for the part he played in the violence of Bleeding Kansas (1854-1859) and his raid on Harpers Ferry, Virginia (now in West Virginia) in October 1859. Brown developed an intense...

Slaveholders in the United States frequently claimed that Blacks were 'happy' to be slaves and could, in no way, function as free people as they would find freedom 'burdensome' – a claim fully articulated by slavery apologist T. R. Dew's...

The Atlanta Campaign (7 May to 2 September 1864) was a major military campaign in the western theater of the American Civil War (1861-1865). It saw a large Union force under Major General William Tecumseh Sherman invade Georgia, constantly...

When Sojourner Truth (circa 1797-1883) escaped from slavery, she later said, "I did not run off, for I thought that wicked, but I walked off, believing that to be all right" (Delbanco, 142). So it was also with Harriet Tubman (circa 1822-1913...

William "Box" Peel Jones was an enslaved African American who, in 1859, was shipped in a box from an unknown location to the home of the abolitionist William Still (1819-1902) in Philadelphia and then traveled on, with assistance from the...

Passmore Williamson (1822-1895) was a Quaker abolitionist, successful businessman, and member of the Underground Railroad in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Williamson helped many slaves gain freedom, among them Henry Box Brown (circa 1815 to...

The Franklin-Nashville Campaign (September-December 1864) was the last major military operation in the western theater of the American Civil War (1861-1865). After the Southern stronghold of Atlanta fell to Union forces, Confederate General...

Enslaved Blacks in the United States, seeking freedom, often fled to Canada, especially after the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 compelled citizens in free states to help slave-catchers apprehend them. Although they frequently faced racial prejudice...