Escape from Slavery

William Still was an African-American abolitionist in Philadelphia, Underground Railroad conductor, prominent businessman, and historian. In 1847, the Pennsylvania Society for the Abolition of Slavery hired him as clerk. With the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, he became Chairman of the Philadelphia Vigilance Committee, which supported and aided fugitives from slavery. William Still recognized the importance of recording slave narratives in order to help reunite families. Between 1850 and the onset of the Civil War, William Still, sometimes with help, interviewed approximately 800 fugitive slaves who were passing through Philadelphia. The longer and more detailed narratives of freedom-seekers are included in this volume, representing the escape experiences of about 150 former slaves. These freedom-seeker narratives also are indexed by location of escape, escape method, and escape destination. Most of the fugitive slaves that escaped with help of the Philadelphia Vigilance Committee came from the District of Columbia and slave-holding coastal states, including Delaware, Maryland, North and South Carolina, and Virginia, but the book also includes accounts of escapes from Mississippi and Missouri. Since most of these escapes came from coastal states, many fugitives reached Philadelphia hidden away on cargo ships. But numerous other escape methods were employed, including small boats, horses and carriages, impersonation, official documents, hidden in boxes and chests, trains, and by walking. Escape destinations included various locations in Canada, England, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania. These personal narratives describe life under slavery, occasionally benign but more often unspeakably cruel, and the often desperate attempts to secure freedom