FREEDOM SHIP

The Underground Railroad travels to the sea.

Prolific historian Rediker tells the inspiring story of enslaved people who escaped not by land but by sea during the three decades before the Civil War, largely from Savannah, Charleston, Wilmington, Norfolk, and Baltimore. This Underground Railroad had its origins on the waterfront—“A voice called from the ocean and thousands answered”—prompting Southern states to pass laws to curb these escapes. Throughout, Rediker profiles a number of sea escapees. William Grimes wrote the first escape-by-sea narrative in 1825. Moses Roper’s escape of 4,400 miles over 16 months was “one of the longest and most grueling on record.” After escaping, it was common for fugitives to be pursued by their angry owners. The author discusses how the growth of port cities, especially New York, with their burgeoning commodity chains, created new jobs for Blacks—and escape routes. Rediker estimates that some 20,000 sailors were free or enslaved men of color. Harriet Tubman helped the enslaved escape via Baltimore’s Chesapeake Bay. The sea shaped Frederick Douglass’ “storied life in profound ways.” Harriet Jacobs’ maritime victory over her vicious slave owner was “one of the great triumphs in the history of resistance to slavery.” White abolitionist Jonathan Walker “raised maritime marronage to national and international visibility.” For his antislavery efforts, he was arrested, beaten, and branded on his palm. Abolitionist William P. Powell was a “crucial although little-known figure” who helped hundreds escape by sea, mainly via his Colored Sailors Home in Manhattan. Boston’s “free Black community…served as a bedrock of the local abolitionist movement,” but more fugitives sailed or steamed their way from Philadelphia and New York via the growing “business of escape.” Rediker estimates that 15,000 to 20,000 “hidden historymakers” escaped by sea.

A much-needed comprehensive contribution to slavery history.