Freedom Ship: The Uncharted History of Escaping Slavery by Sea

Nineteenth-century American seaports contained a motley and broad cross-section of humanity. Within this milieu thousands of enslaved men and women sought to escape bondage by taking to the water, but historians focusing on the Underground Railroad have largely neglected the part that waterways played in enslaved people’s journeys to freedom in the United States. Rediker (history, Univ. of Pittsburgh; The Slave Ship) details the roles played by sailors and dockworkers of all races in resisting enslavement, as people escaping enslavement relied on an informal and secretive network of sailors, waterfront laborers, and abolitionists to emancipate themselves. This included contacts who could stow them onboard ships, captains willing to cover for them, and, once they reached the North, abolitionists to house and feed newly liberated people. Enslavers understood these processes very well and, through laws and physical violence, attempted to seize runaways and disrupt the networks that aided fleeing slaves. Based on the voluminous first-hand accounts and testimony left by enslaved people and abolitionists, this beautifully written and compassionate account highlights a little-known aspect of antebellum resistance to enslavement.