Margaret Garner Kills Daughter Rather Than Return Her to Slavery

On January 27, 1856, Margaret Garner, having escaped slavery in Kentucky with her family, kills her two-year-old daughter Mary rather than allow her to be re-enslaved when slave catchers surround the family in Cincinnati. She wounds three other children. Ohio tries to charge her with murder — a case that would have implied legal personhood — but federal courts return her to slavery.