Resistance To Slavery In Maryland, Strategies For Freedom - Special History Study

LaRoche, Cheryl Janifer; Whitman, Stephen

Public Law 105-203, the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom Act of 1998, directs the National Park Service (NPS) to commemorate, honor, and interpret the history of the Underground Railroad. The Underground Railroad-the resistance to enslavement through escape and flight, through the end of the Civil War-refers to the efforts of enslaved African Americans to gain their freedom by escaping bondage. Wherever slavery existed, there were efforts to escape, at first, to maroon communities in rugged terrain away from settled areas, and later across state and international borders. While most began and completed their journeys unassisted, each subsequent decade in which slavery was legal in the United States saw an increase in active efforts to assist escape . The decision to assist a freedom seeker may have been spontaneous. However, in some places, particularly after the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, the Underground Railroad was deliberate and organized. Freedom seekers went in many directions-Canada, Mexico, Indian Territory, the West, Caribbean Islands and Europe . A key to understanding this important movement in American History is an examination of its roots in the areas where people were enslaved. In the following report, Cheryl Janifer LaRoche, PhD, examines strategies for freedom in Maryland. This resistance to slavery in Maryland provides a window into these clandestine acts . This report had its origins as a more focused study of resistance to slavery at the Hampton Plantation in Baltimore County, Maryland (now a National Historic Site). Research for this original study was conducted by T. Stephen Whitman, PhD. The Hampton project eventually evolved into this larger, statewide study, but some of Dr. Whitman's research has been incorporated into this report. We gratefully acknowledge his contribution, as well as the work of Tara Morrison, who at that time was the National Park Service's Northeast Regional Manager of the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom Program . The Organization of American Historians (OAH) facilitated this project, through a cooperative agreement with the NPS. The collaboration between the NPS and the OAH has been particularly fruitful in bringing cultural resource management and historical scholarship together. We would like to give special thanks to Susan Ferentinos, the Public History Manager for the OAH, who managed the project on behalf of the organization .

Resistance To Slavery In Maryland, Strategies For Freedom - Special History Study

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