Flee North Book Talk

Join us for a book talk with Scott Shane as he delves into the inspiring history of Thomas Smallwood’s quest for freedom.   

FLEE NORTH tells a very local story of both tragedy and triumph. It unearths the lost story of Thomas Smallwood, born into slavery in Maryland, who bought his freedom, educated himself and became a shoemaker in Southwest Washington a short walk from the U.S. Capitol. Smallwood began to organize mass escapes from slavery by the wagonload, with the help of a young white partner, Charles Torrey -- and wrote about the escapes in extraordinary satirical dispatches for an abolitionist newspaper in Albany. It was Smallwood, Scott Shane discovered, who gave the underground railroad its name. But Smallwood's daring operation took place against the very dark background of the domestic slave trade, which thrived on Washington's mall and at Baltimore's Inner Harbor, shipping thousands of people every year away from their families to the cotton and sugar plantations of the deep south. The book's third major character, Baltimore's Hope Slatter, was the era's dominant slave trader, operating from his private "slave jail" on Pratt Street. The domestic slave trade is still too little understood, even in Baltimore, where it prospered for half a century -- and became an engine driving the underground railroad. 

Please note that there is limited accessibility to reach the Wine Cellar, where the program will be hosted.  If you require more information, please email museums@jhu.edu

For detailed directions, click here