Category: Freedom Seeker Page 9 of 10

Stephen was an enslaved man who escaped from Virginia slaveholder George Henderson in 1847.

ESSAYS: Churchill

ROLES: Freedom Seeker

Levin Still, Jr. was an enslaved man and the older brother of Philadelphia vigilance leader William Still. After Still’s mother Sydney (later Charity) escaped, Still’s slaveholder sold him and his brother to Kentucky, and eventually Alabama, where he died.

ESSAYS: Larson

ROLES: Freedom Seeker

Levin Still, Sr. was an enslaved man who purchased his freedom and moved to New Jersey, where he raised fourteen more children with his wife Sydney (Charity), who escaped from slavery to join him. He was the father of abolitionist William Still.

ESSAYS: Larson

ROLES: Freedom Seeker

Peter Still (1801-1868) was the older brother of Philadelphia vigilance leader William Still. Still was born into slavery but sold him south after his mother escaped to New Jersey. Peter eventually bought his freedom and came into contact with Philadelphia’s antislavery vigilance network in 1850, where he encountered with his long-lost brother William. Peter toured as an abolitionist lecturer to raise funds to purchase the rest of his family, still enslaved.

ESSAYS: Blackett // Larson

ROLES: Freedom Seeker

Louis Talbert was an enslaved man who escaped from Kentucky in 1845.

ESSAYS: Blackett

ROLES: Freedom Seeker

Josiah Thomas escaped slavery with his wife and their child and reached Boston, before settling in Ashburnham, Massachusetts.

ESSAYS: Grover

ROLES: Freedom Seeker

John W. Thompson was a freedom seeker who escaped from Maryland in 1842 and found work in New Bedford, Massachusetts aboard a whaling vessel.

ESSAYS: Grover

ROLES: Freedom Seeker

James Townsend was one of three freedom seekers whose May 1861 escape to US lines at Fort Monroe triggered the US army’s contraband decision.

ESSAYS: Manning

ROLES: Freedom Seeker

Madison Washington was a leader of the Creole revolt.

ESSAYS: Barker

ROLES: Freedom Seeker