Description: Rhoda Jones standing outside her cabin with her dog near Ripley, Ohio, in May 1910. At this time, Jones was the oldest surviving resident of Africa, a settlement of free African Americans established on a hillside above Ripley; she was actively involved in the Underground Railroad assisting slaves to escape to freedom once they crossed from Kentucky into Ohio across the Ohio River. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL01169
Subjects: African American women; Underground Railroad--Ohio; Antislavery movements--Ohio--History--19th century; Former slaves;
Places: Ripley (Ohio); Brown County (Ohio)
 

Description: C.T. Weber created this painting of Levi Coffin and his wife "Aunt Katie" (Catherine Coffin) receiving a company of fugitive slaves outside of Cincinnati, Hamilton County, Ohio. The painting was done in 1893 for the Columbian World's Exposition in Chicago, Illinois. The image was collected by Ohio State University professor Wilbur H. Siebert (1866-1961). Siebert began researching the Underground Railroad in the 1890s as a way to interest his students in history. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL03134
Subjects: Women abolitionists - Ohio; Underground Railroad--Ohio; Ohio History--Slavery, Anti-Slavery and Civil Rights
Places: Cincinnati (Ohio); Hamilton County (Ohio)
 

Description: In this photograph, Polly Jackson, a conductor on the Underground Railroad, is seated on a chair in front of steps leading to a building. She wears a patterned blouse and a long calico skirt. Her arms are folded. Jackson was a key figure in the Underground Railroad movement, and her name is listed on a local monument dedicated to her and others who risked their lives to help free the enslaved. During the 19th century, the migration of fugitives from the Deep and Upper South to the North accelerated. Many, like Polly Jackson, traveled to Ohio. It was difficult for women to defend themselves against male pursuers, and this sometimes discouraged them from running away. However, women driven to the end of their limits would flee and defend themselves in any manner that they could. According to legend, as a fugitive herself, Jackson fought off bounty hunters with a butcher knife and Kettle of boiling water. Jackson joined a community of free blacks in the settlement of Africa, Ohio, that was established near Ripley. Many of the local black residents served as conductors on the Underground Railroad. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL05880
Subjects: African American women; Ohio History--Slavery, Anti-Slavery and Civil Rights; Underground Railroad--Ohio; Women abolitionists - Ohio;
Places: Ripley (Ohio); Brown County (Ohio)
 

Description: Mrs. Betsy Dodge kept a station on the Underground Railroad at Marblehead, Massachusetts. This cabinet card is from Cross Photo on Essex Street in Salem, Massachusetts. The photograph was taken in the 1880s. The image was collected by Ohio State University professor Wilbur H. Siebert (1866-1961). Siebert began researching the Underground Railroad as a way to interest his students in history. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL03055
Subjects: Underground Railroad--Massachusetts; Ohio History--Slavery, Anti-Slavery and Civil Rights; Underground Railroad--Women
Places: Marblehead (Massachusetts); Essex County (Massachusetts)
 

Description: Jane Robinson (1783-1875?) was an Underground Railroad Operator at Emerson (now Mt. Pleasant) in Jefferson County, Ohio. The image was collected by Ohio State University professor Wilbur H. Siebert (1866-1961). Siebert began researching the Underground Railroad in the 1890s as a way to interest his students in history. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL03143
Subjects: Women abolitionists - Ohio; Underground Railroad; Ohio History--Slavery, Anti-Slavery and Civil Rights
Places: Mount Pleasant (Ohio); Jefferson County (Ohio)
 

Description: Reproduction of a portrait depicting Rebecca Millhouse Cope (b. 1808), who kept a station on the Underground Railroad with her husband Joseph in Smithfield in Jefferson County, Ohio. The image was collected by Ohio State University professor Wilbur H. Siebert (1866-1961). Siebert began researching the Underground Railroad in the 1890s as a way to interest his students in history. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL03138
Subjects: Women abolitionists - Ohio; Underground Railroad; Ohio History--Slavery, Anti-Slavery and Civil Rights
Places: Smithfield (Ohio); Jefferson County (Ohio)
 

Description: Jerusha Leach (1787-1875) was the daughter of Abisha and Patience Wood Leach. She married Elijah Bird in March, 1808. This photograph was taken by P.R. Read when Jerusha was 80 years old. She kept a station on the Underground Railroad in Taunton, Massachusetts. The cabinet card was sent to Wilbur H. Siebert by M. Emma Burt for use in his research on the Underground Railroad. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL03044
Subjects: Underground Railroad--Massachusetts; Ohio History--Slavery, Anti-Slavery and Civil Rights; Underground Railroad--Women
Places: Taunton (Massachusetts); Bristol County (Massachusetts)
 

Description: Ellen Craft was a fugitive slave from Macon, Georgia who, in 1848, escaped with her husband, William Craft, to Canada on the Underground Railroad. This print shows her in disguise wearing the clothes of a Southern male planter. The image was collected by Ohio State University professor Wilbur H. Siebert (1866-1961). Siebert began researching the Underground Railroad in the 1890s as a way to interest his students in history. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL03059
Subjects: Fugitive slaves; Women; Underground Railroad; Ohio History--Slavery, Anti-Slavery and Civil Rights
Places: Massachusetts
 

Description: Mrs. Samuel S. Crocker was an Underground Railroad worker in Fitchburg, Worcester County, Massachusetts. This cabinet card is from J.C. Moulton at 368 Main Street, Fitchburg, Massachusetts. The image was collected by Ohio State University professor Wilbur H. Siebert (1866-1961). Siebert began researching the Underground Railroad in the 1890s as a way to interest his students in history. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL03070
Subjects: Underground Railroad--Massachusetts; Women; Ohio History--Slavery, Anti-Slavery and Civil Rights
Places: Fitchburg (Massachusetts); Worcester County (Massachusetts)
 

Description: Portrait of Mary C. Thorne, who worked with her husband Thomas Thorne to aid fugitive slaves to freedom in Canada on the Underground Railroad. The image was collected by Ohio State University professor Wilbur H. Siebert (1866-1961). Siebert began researching the Underground Railroad in the 1890s as a way to interest his students in history. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL03127
Subjects: Women abolitionists - Ohio; Underground Railroad; Ohio History--Slavery, Anti-Slavery and Civil Rights
Places: Greene County (Ohio)
 

Description: Photograph of Harriet Tubman (1820?-1913), who was a former fugitive slave who returned to the South numerous times to rescue enslaved people and lead them to freedom in the North. She led more than 300 slaves, generally through Delaware to Wilmington and Philadelphia. This cabinet card comes from the H.G. Smith Studio in Boston, Massachusetts, and dates ca. 1887. It was collected by Ohio State University professor Wilbur H. Siebert (1866-1961). Siebert began researching the Underground Railroad in the 1890s as a way to interest his students in history. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL03231
Subjects: Underground Railroad; Fugitive slaves; Women; Ohio History--Slavery, Anti-Slavery and Civil Rights
Places: Boston (Massachusetts)
 

Description: This image shows a group of young women on an unidentified street in Ripley, Ohio, in Brown County. Ripley was an important stop in the 19th century for many fugitive slaves who stopped at the Rankin House (owned by John Rankin, a Presbyterian minister) as they made their way further north along the Underground Railroad. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SC652_001
Subjects: Underground Railroad; Historic sites Ohio; Historic houses; Women--Ohio; Brown County (Ohio)
Places: Ripley (Ohio); Brown County (Ohio)