Description: The group of fugitive slaves seen here escaped to freedom in Canada on the Underground Railroad and took up residence in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. Their names are listed from left to right as, back row: Mrs. Hunt, Mansfield Smith, Mrs. Seymour; front row: Stevenson, Johnson. 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: AL03237
Subjects: Fugitive slaves; Ohio History--Slavery, Anti-Slavery and Civil Rights; Underground Railroad
Places: Windsor, Ontario (Canada)
 

Description: Map of Underground Railroad stations, showing locations of stations around Ohio as well as major routes that fugitive slaves took on their escape to freedom. From "Pathways of Progress, A Short History of Ohio" by David Bowman, 1943. The Underground Railroad was a system of safe houses and hiding places that helped fugitive slaves escape to freedom in Canada, Mexico, and elsewhere outside of the United States. Reportedly, people living in Ohio began to help those seeking their freedom as early as the 1810s, and many prominent abolitionists from Ohio played a vital role in the Underground Railroad. Historian Wilbur Siebert believes approximately 3,000 miles of Underground Railroad trails existed in Ohio. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL04138
Subjects: Underground Railroad--Ohio; Ohio History--Slavery, Anti-Slavery and Civil Rights; Fugitive slaves--Ohio--History
Places: Ohio
 

Description: Photograph of the home of Udney Hyde (1808-1883), which served as a station on the Underground Railroad in Mechanicsburg, Ohio. Hyde was a conductor on the Underground Railroad in Mechanicsburg, and supposedly assisted 513 fugitive slaves in attaining their freedom over his lifetime. Hyde is best remembered for his involvement with the case of Addison White, a fugitive from slavery who took refuge in Hyde's home, and was defended from his owner and federal marshals who sought to take him back to Kentucky by Hyde and the townspeople of Mechanicsburg. While White's case was being adjudicated, Hyde remained a fugitive from authorities who wanted to arrest him for violating state and federal law. Hyde was never captured, and following the White case, he returned home and continued to assist fugitive slaves. Hyde eventually settled in Goshen in Champaign County, and died in 1883. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL02980
Subjects: Mechanicsburg (Ohio); Underground Railroad--Ohio; Ohio History--Slavery, Anti-Slavery and Civil Rights; Fugitive slaves
Places: Mechanicsburg (Ohio); Champaign County (Ohio)
 

Description: This 8" x 10" (20.32 x 25.4 cm) photograph was taken from the John Rankin House near Ripley, Ohio. The house, located on a hill overlooking the Ohio River, provided Reverend John Rankin with a view into Kentucky, a slaveholding state. Fugitive slaves who crossed the Ohio River from Kentucky were welcome at the Rankin House. The John Rankin House later became a museum, part of the Ohio History Connection's statewide network of historic sites. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Rankin and his family are credited with helping thousands of slaves escape to freedom. John Rankin (1793-1886) was a Presbyterian minister and educator who devoted much of his life to the antislavery movement. His home has several secret rooms in which fugitive slaves were hidden. A light was placed in the window of the house to indicate that it was safe for slaves to approach. The character of Eliza in Harriet Beecher Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin" was reportedly inspired by a story of a woman who crossed the partially-frozen Ohio River with a baby in her arms, making it safely to Rankin's house. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: Om3178_3813005_001
Subjects: Civil Liberties; African American Ohioans; Architecture; Geography and Natural Resources; Underground Railroad; Ohio River; Fugitive slaves; Rankin, John, 1793-1886
Places: Ripley (Ohio); Brown County (Ohio)
 

Description: This 2.75" x 2.75" (6.99 x 6.99 cm) slide of the John Rankin House near Ripley, Ohio, was taken in the 1960s. The John Rankin House later became a museum, part of the Ohio History Connection's statewide network of historic sites. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Rankin House, in Ripley, Ohio, was an Underground Railroad stop run by Presbyterian minister John Rankin with his wife and neighbors. The house stood on a 300-foot-high hill, known as "Liberty Hill," which overlooked the Ohio River. Rankin would signal fugitive slaves in Kentucky with a lantern or candle, letting them know when it was safe to cross the Ohio River. To access Rankin's home on top of Liberty Hill, those seeking their freedom had to climb 100 wooden steps. Rankin would provide the former slaves with sanctuary, keeping them hidden until it was safe for them to travel further north. John Rankin is believed to have provided shelter and food to as many as 2,000 fugitive slaves during his career with the Underground Railroad; according to several accounts, none of those whom Rankin helped were ever returned to slavery. Harriet Beecher Stowe immortalized Rankin's efforts to help African Americans in her book, "Uncle Tom's Cabin." Rankin's home was the first stop in Ohio for Eliza, one of the book's main characters, as she sought freedom in the North. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: Om3005_3631854_001
Subjects: Antislavery movements--Ohio--History--19th century; Civil Liberties; African American Ohioans; Architecture; Underground Railroad; Fugitive slaves; Rankin, John, 1793-1886; National Register of Historic Places
Places: Ripley (Ohio); Brown County (Ohio)
 

Description: Photographic reproduction of a broadside advertisement dated July 12 (year unknown) offering a $150 reward for the apprehension of an escaped slave named Tom. A physical description is provided of the fugitive, as well as information about a reward for his capture and return to B. L. Boston of Fayette County, Kentucky. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL02706
Subjects: Ohio History--Slavery, Anti-Slavery and Civil Rights; Fugitive slaves--Ohio--History; Fugitive slaves;
Places: Ohio
 

Description: Broadside dated August 4, 1853, announcing a $100 reward for the apprehension and return of a fugitive slave named Emily who belonged to Thomas H. Williams from near Lewisburg, Mason County, Kentucky. Her physical description is provided, as well as what she is believed to be wearing, along with information about a reward for her capture and return. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL02768
Subjects: Ohio History--Slavery, Anti-Slavery and Civil Rights; Fugitive slaves--Ohio--History; Fugitive slaves;
Places: Ohio
 

Description: Illustration depicting the living quarters of former slaves from "The Black Phalanx: A History of the Negro Soldiers of the United States in the Wars of 1775-1812, 1861-'65" by Joseph T. Wilson. Fugitive slaves who left the Confederacy to seek protection in the Union came to be considered prizes of war, or contrabands, during the Civil War. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: blackphalanx_22
Subjects: African American soldiers; Civil War 1861-1865; Fugitive slaves; Slavery
 

Description: Photographic reproduction of a daguerreotype of Udney Hyde of Mechanicsburg, Ohio. Hyde's home was a stop on the Underground Railroad, and he is believed to have assisted over 500 slaves on their journey to freedom during his lifetime. Hyde is best remembered for his involvement with the case of Addison White, a fugitive from slavery who took refuge in Hyde's home, and was defended from his owner and federal marshals who sought to take him back to Kentucky by Hyde and the townspeople of Mechanicsburg. While White's case was being adjudicated, Hyde remained a fugitive from authorities who wanted to arrest him for violating state and federal law. Hyde was never captured, and following the White case, he returned home and continued to assist fugitive slaves. Hyde eventually settled in Goshen in Champaign County, and died in 1883. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL02981
Subjects: Mechanicsburg (Ohio); Underground Railroad--Ohio; Ohio History--Slavery, Anti-Slavery and Civil Rights; Fugitive slaves
Places: Mechanicsburg (Ohio); Champaign County (Ohio)
 

Description: In this 1852 poster, John Means and Radford E. Stanley provide physical descriptions and rewards for four fugitive slaves from Mississippi County, Missouri. The four men, identified with only a first name, are George, Noah, Hamp and Bob. Rewards vary depending on whether they are captured in a "free" state or a "slave" state. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL04176
Subjects: Slavery; Ohio History--Slavery, Anti-Slavery and Civil Rights; Fugitive slaves
Places: St. Louis (Missouri)
 

Description: Harriet Tubman, a former fugitive slave herself, worked to free enslaved people on the Underground Railroad. Known as "the Moses of her people," she led more than 300 fugitive slaves to freedom in Canada. This portrait is from the Wilbur H. Siebert Underground Railroad collection, likely taken ca. 1890. Siebert (1866-1961) began researching the Underground Railroad in the 1890s as a way to interest his students in history in his role as a professor at the Ohio State University. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL03083
Subjects: Fugitive slaves; Ohio History--Slavery, Anti-Slavery and Civil Rights; Tubman, Harriet, 1820?-1913
Places: New Jersey
 

Description: Photograph of the Reuben Benedict home, a station on the Underground Railroad in Morrow County, Ohio. The home was built around 1828 near the village of Marengo. Reuben Benedict, a miller, along with his wife Anna and their 12 children, were one of a group of Quaker families who settled in this area along Alum Creek after migrating from New York. Because of the community's population of free and fugitive slaves and its Quaker ties, it was an active site in assisting formerly enslaved people making their way north. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SC1338_10
Subjects: Ohio History--Slavery, Anti-Slavery and Civil Rights; Abolitionists; Underground Railroad; Fugitive slaves--Ohio--History
Places: Morrow County (Ohio)