Catherine (1803-1881) and Levi Coffin (1798-1877) were a Quaker couple renowned for their Underground Railroad activism. The couple relocated from North Carolina to Indiana in 1826, where they assisted more than 2,000 freedom seekers over two decades. In 1847, the Coffins moved to Cincinnati and continued their Underground Railroad work. During the Civil War, the couple turned their attention to aiding wartime freedom seekers in contraband camps. By the time Levi Coffin died in 1877, he had come to be known as the “President of the Underground Railroad” in recognition for his prolific aid to freedom seekers. Catherine, who had been crucial to those same efforts, died in 1881.
ESSAYS: Blackett // Barker // Bordewich // Churchill // Crew // Larson
ROLES: Abolitionist // UGRR Operative