West End’s Underground Railroad Stop Played Key Role in Anti-Slavery Movement

Underground Railroad Brought Thousands to Freedom

The Underground Railroad ushered tens of thousands of slaves―men, women, and children―to freedom. It was a semi-informal network of safe houses and “conductors” ―both white and African American―many of whom secretly traveled into Southern slave states to rescue those seeking freedom. Assisted by abolitionists and others sympathetic to their cause, they provided fugitives with secret routes, a network of safe houses or “stations,” and other aid.

Established in the late 1700s, the Underground Railroad grew steadily until the Civil War, enabling approximately 100,000 slaves to escape from bondage. The railroad’s success generated animosity among slave-holders and their allies, which could lead them to abuse the law. After the Compromise of 1850 was ratified in Congress―which created a new, more enforceable Fugitive Slave Law than the previous legislation of the late 18th century ― slave-catchers started abducting free-born African Americans. Because the Fugitive Slave Law banned African Americans from testifying in their defense and eliminated jury trials for cases involving fugitives, they usually could not defend themselves. The slave-catcher needed only to swear an oath that the Black man was a runaway slave, and could return the slave to their “owner” for a reward. The judges who tried these cases were also incentivized to rule in an abductor’s favor, as they would receive $10 for cases where an alleged slave was returned to bondage, but only $5 if he ruled in favor of the African American defendant.

Numerous Self-Emancipated Slaves Escaped to Boston

Boston served as a destination on the Underground Railroad for many self-emancipated people. Freedom seekers arriving in the city found that Boston’s tightly knit free Black community provided support and a welcome sanctuary as they began their new lives.

However, the Fugitive Slave Acts required that self-emancipated people who were captured be returned to slavery, and after the stronger 1850 law was enacted officials and citizens of free states were required to aid in capturing fugitives. This forced Bostonians and others Northerners to actively participate in the slave system, and it eventually backfired, leading to a rapid growth in anti-slavery and abolitionist sentiment throughout the northern states. The capture of slaves’ subsequent, along with the surrounding court cases and extradition, further inflamed the growing anti-slavery movement, and led to wide-scale public outcries against injustice and, ultimately, large demonstrations and riots that sometimes freed the captured slave. Interestingly, the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 ― and the Compromise of 1850 of which it was a part ― virtually ensured that the Civil War would result in an end to slavery when it began a decade later, while simultaneously delaying the war long enough for key railroads and factories (such as the strategically vital B&O) to be completed, providing the logistical and industrial advantages that ultimately won the war for the Union.

The Boston Vigilance Committee, an abolitionist organization, protected hundreds of self-emancipated slaves from being kidnapped and returned to slavery in the South. The committee provided escapees with funds, shelter, medical attention, legal counsel, transportation, and even weapons. A large network of scouts, lawyers, doctors, smugglers, rescuers, recruiters, and financiers, they kept an eye out for slave catchers, and spread the word when any came to town.

Ellen and William Craft

Husband and wife Ellen and William Craft escaped from Georgia. Ellen, the light-skinned daughter of a slave mother and her white master, was able to disguise herself as a white male slaveholder during their escape via train and steamboat. She faked illness to limit conversation, as she was uneducated, and wore her right arm in a sling to hide the fact that she did not know how to write. William pretended to be her slave and personal servant, a common practice at the time of slaves accompanying their masters when traveling.

Soon after the Crafts’ arrival in Boston, they began telling their story in abolitionist-organized public lectures to gain support in the struggle to end slavery. The Crafts made numerous public appearances to recount their escape and speak against slavery.

After the Civil War, the Crafts bought 1,800 acres of land in Georgia and opened an agricultural school for freedmen’s children.

Anthony Burns

Born a slave in Virginia, Burns escaped to Boston, where he worked for a bakery and then a clothes dealer at 36 Brattle Street.

The following year, slave catchers discovered and arrested Burns, who was subsequently tried in court and ― after rescue attempts failed ― transported back to slavery in Virginia. His cause became so famous that 50,000 people watched as large federal force walked him past the Old State House and down Long Warf, by houses draped in funerary bunting and over the ground of the Boston Massacre, and returned him into slavery.

After the Burns case, Boston passed laws denying federal officials the use of public buildings for cases involving alleged slaves and required jury trials and credible witnesses to testify in all Fugitive Slave cases. Within two years Burns had returned to Boston ― abolitionists raised $1,300 to buy his freedom.

George Latimer

George Latimer was born in Virginia, the son of a white man and slave mother. After Latimer made his way to Boston, his owner, James Gray, offered a monetary reward for his capture. A former employee of Gray recognized Latimer and contacted Gray, who then arrested Latimer.

Latimer’s arrest resulted in an immense public response among both Black and White abolitionists, vowing resistance to slave-catching and even the termination of the union. Fundraising efforts helped raise the money used to purchase Latimer’s freedom from his owner.

Once free, Latimer remained involved in the abolitionist cause, attending conventions and gathering signatures for anti-slavery petitions.

Shadrach Minkins

Shadrach Minkins, born in Virginia, self-emancipated, and reached Boston. However, the following year Minkins was captured and taken to a hearing at the Boston federal courthouse.

Boston Vigilance Committee members supplied legal and financial assistance, and freed and hid him. Minkins later left Massachusetts for Canada via the Underground Railroad.

Thomas Sims

Thomas Sims escaped from Georgia and fled to Boston. Unfortunately, just before his ship’s arrival, the crew discovered Sims on board. Sims tried to convince them of his status as a freed slave from Florida, but the crew did not believe him and locked him up.

Sims escaped before authorities arrived, but was soon re-arrested. He had a court hearing, after which he was forced to return to enslavement. Nevertheless, Sims escaped again. During the Civil War he returned to Boston, and after the war was appointed to a position in the U.S. Department of Justice.

Black Heritage Trail Highlights Boston’s First Black Community

More than half of Boston’s 2,000 African American citizens lived on the North Slope of Beacon Hill before, during, and after the Civil War. Beacon Hill’s North Slope, including Joy Street, was considered part of the old West End (before urban renewal split the neighborhood in the 1960s). Throughout that time, the community struggled and organized for equal rights and access to equal education. Community members championed the movement to abolish slavery and even housed freedom seekers on their journey along the Underground Railroad.

Today, visitors can tour this once-thriving community by following the Black Heritage Trail. A 1.6-mile walking tour of Boston’s free Black community of the 1800s, the trail winds through Beacon Hill. It includes important sites in African-American history―homes, businesses, schools (including Boston’s first African American school), and churches (including the oldest standing Black church in the United States)―and their efforts in the Abolitionist Movement, Underground Railroad, and early struggles for equality and justice. Most sites along the trail remain private residences. However, the final stops—the Abiel Smith School and the African Meeting House—are part of the Museum of African American History.

Prominent Stops along Black Heritage Trail 

The following houses, located on Beacon Hill’s North Slope, welcomed and protected runaway slaves as they escaped to safety:

3 Smith Court, Boston

Smith Court, on Boston’s Beacon Hill, was the center of the city’s African American community in the19th century. Located directly behind the African American Meeting House, it was the safest safe-house on the entire Underground Railroad.

By 1830, black families were renting this house. The longest resident was James Scott, an African American clothier, who became a tenant in 1839 and bought the property in 1865. Originally from Virginia, Scott was an abolitionist who was arrested in 1851 for his role in freeing fugitive slave Shadrach Minkins. From 1851–1856, part of the house was rented by William C. Nell, a journalist and abolitionist, who led the campaign to integrate Boston’s public schools.

William Craft’s Shop, 51 Cambridge Street

Part of the old West End, William Craft set up a cabinet-making shop, a trade he’d learned while enslaved in Georgia.

John Coburn House, 2 Phillips Street 

Part of Boston’s Black community, John Coburn was a local business owner and member of organizations such as the New England Freedom Association.

George and Susan Hillard House, 62 Pinckney Street

George Hillard, a lawyer and abolitionist, was also a federal commissioner, which meant that in 1850 he had to uphold the new Fugitive Slave Law by giving out arrest warrants to escaped slaves. This law, which did not allow the accused to speak in their own defense, put all African American in Boston in jeopardy.

However, Susan Hillard hid fugitive slaves in their home during this time, and in full view of her husband. Whatever his position on national politics, George Hillard was sympathetic to self-emancipated slaves and a proponent of racial equality, especially in education. Between 1855 and 1858, at least five fugitive slaves resided in the Hillard home, including Ellen Craft, when in 1850 slave catchers came to Boston in search of her and her husband.

Lewis and Harriet Hayden House, 66 Phillips Street 

Husband and wife Lewis and Harriet Hayden escaped slavery from Kentucky and made their way to Beacon Hill, where they became abolitionist leaders. They soon established their home as the most active Underground Railroad safe house in the city, sheltering scores of documented freedom seekers. The Haydens also sheltered Ellen and William Craft.

John J. Smith House, 86 Pinckney Street

John J. Smith, an abolitionist and key player in fighting slavery, was born free and moved to Boston from Virginia in 1848. He went on to serve three terms in the Massachusetts House of Representatives and became one of the first African American members of the Boston Common Council.