Richard Dillingham (1823-1850) was a Quaker abolitionist convicted of slave stealing in Nashville, Tennessee in 1848.
ROLES: UGRR Operative
Category: UGRR Operative Page 3 of 10
Anna Murray Douglass (1813-1882) frequently assisted freedom seekers from her Rochester, New York home while her husband, Frederick Douglass, was on the abolitionist lecture circuit.
ROLES: Abolitionist // UGRR Operative
Frederick Douglass (1818-1895) was perhaps the most famous freedom seeker in US history, escaping from slavery in Baltimore in 1838 to become an abolitionist orator, writer, and politician.
ESSAYS: Blackett // Barker // Crew // Finkelman // Jackson // Miller
ROLES: Abolitionist // UGRR Operative
Frederick Douglass used forged papers to escape from Baltimore in 1838 (House Divided Project)
Dr. John Doy (-1869) was an English-born abolitionist best known for his dramatic escape from a Missouri prison. In January 1859, Doy attempted to lead a group of Missouri freedom seekers from Kansas to Iowa, but slave catchers overtook the party and clapped Doy and his son in jail. In June 1859, Missouri authorities sentenced Doy to five years of hard labor for “seducing” slaves from the state, but a band of Lawrence abolitionists rescued Doy from prison in July. Still a fugitive, Doy published his Narrative (1860) recounting his confinement and rescue. Missouri governor Thomas Fletcher finally pardoned Doy after the state abolished slavery in 1865. Doy died in 1869 in Battle Creek, Michigan, of suspected suicide.
ROLES: Abolitionist // UGRR Operative
Edward J. “Patrick” Doyle was a Kentucky student convicted of leading a stampede of over 40 freedom seekers from Lexington, Kentucky.
ESSAYS: Sinha
ROLES: UGRR Operative
Daniel Drayton was a seaman convicted for aiding 77 freedom seekers’ escape from Washington, DC in 1848 aboard the Pearl.
ROLES: UGRR Operative
Chester English was a seaman involved in the escape of 77 freedom seekers from Washington, DC in 1848 aboard the Pearl.
ROLES: UGRR Operative
Calvin Fairbank (1816-1898) was a Methodist minister and Underground Railroad operative convicted in Kentucky for aiding the 1844 escape of Harriet and Lewis Hayden along with school teacher Delia Webster and then convicted again for a second offense in 1851. He ended up serving a total of seventeen years in Kentucky state prison before his release in 1864.
ESSAYS: Blackett // Baker // Larson // Miller // Pinsker // Sinha
ROLES: UGRR Operative
Calvin Fairbank served a total of seventeen years in Kentucky prison for “slave stealing” (House Divided Project)
Alexander Gilliland was an antislavery activist in Redoak, Ohio. In 1844, slave catchers beat Gilliland for his efforts to defend freedom seekers.
ESSAYS: Churchill
ROLES: UGRR Operative
Samuel Green was an African American minister in Maryland accused of assisting freedom seekers. Unable to prove his Underground railroad activities, Maryland authorities still managed to convict Green for owning a copy of Uncle Tom’s Cabin.
ESSAYS: Blackett
ROLES: UGRR Operative
Samuel Green (NYPL)