We have collected here a variety of contemporary and modern images depicting resistance by enslaved African Americans as the resisted slavery or recapture. Publication dates are in parentheses on the right.
1831 || Nat Turner’s Revolt in Virginia (1831)
Depiction of Nat Turner Rebellion published in 1831; artist unknown (Library of Congress)
1850 || Broadside Against Fugitive Slave Law (1850)
Popular illustration attacking cruelty of Fugitive Slave Law in 1850; Created by Theodor Kaufmann // Library of Congress
1851 || Christiana (PA) Riot (1872)
Engraving published in William Still, The Underground Railroad in 1872 that shows the events of the Christiana riots where a shootout occurred between hunters and a dozen black men who were protecting the runaways.
1853 || Freedom Seekers Cornered in Maryland Barn (1872)
Runaways heading toward Gettysburg, PA get into a shootout with white men in a Maryland barn, Illustration and details in William Still’s The Underground Rail Road (1872) // House Divided Project
1855 || Resistance in Maryland (1872)
Five out of six Virginia runaways successfully escaped after resisting attempts at recapture in 1855; from William Still’s The Underground Rail Road (1872). Engraving by Charles Reed. (House Divided Project)
1859 || Doy Party Capture in Kansas Territory (1862)
Missouri slave catchers ambushed a group of runaways escorted by Dr. John Doy (an ally of John Brown’s) in 1859. (Illustration from Le Tour du Monde (1862) HathiTrust)
1860 || A Battle on the Chesapeake Bay (1872)
Runaways fight off recapture on the Chespeake Bay in1860; Engraving by John Osler in William Still’s The Underground Railroad (1872) // House Divided Project
1861 || Battling the Hunters (1861)
“The Hunted Slaves,” an 1861 painting by British artist Richard Ansdell (Google Arts and Culture)