1849
A Black father sues over school segregation and loses — the case coins "separate but equal," a century before Plessy is overturned.
Harriet Tubman escaped from slavery in Maryland in September 1849 and then returned south at least 13 times between 1849 and 1860, personally guiding approximately 70 enslaved people to freedom via the Underground Railroad network. She operated under a $40,000 bounty (dead or alive) and never lost a passenger. Tubman used the network of free Black families, sympathetic whites, and safe houses stretching from Maryland's Eastern Shore through Philadelphia to the North. After the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, she led freedom-seekers all the way to Canada. She later served as a Union Army scout and spy during the Civil War.
Zoom in — months
Key events
- 1849Harriet Tubman Conducts 13 Missions on Underground Railroad
Harriet Tubman escaped from slavery in Maryland in September 1849 and then returned south at least 13 times between 1849 and 1860, personally guiding approximately 70 enslaved people to freedom via the Underground Railroad network. She operated under a $40,000 bounty (dead or alive) and never lost a passenger. Tubman used the network of free Black families, sympathetic whites, and safe houses stretching from Maryland's Eastern Shore through Philadelphia to the North. After the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, she led freedom-seekers all the way to Canada. She later served as a Union Army scout and spy during the Civil War.
- 1849Harriet Tubman Conducts 13 Missions on Underground Railroad
Harriet Tubman escaped from slavery in Maryland in September 1849 and then returned south at least 13 times between 1849 and 1860, personally guiding approximately 70 enslaved people to freedom via the Underground Railroad network. She operated under a $40,000 bounty dead or alive and never lost a passenger. After the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, she led freedom-seekers all the way to Canada. She later served as a Union Army scout and spy during the Civil War.
- March 23, 1849Henry "Box" Brown mails himself to freedom
Henry Brown is sealed in a crate and shipped from Richmond to Philadelphia, arriving alive after 27 hours — one of the most audacious escapes ever.
- April 1849Roberts v. City of Boston
A Black father sues over school segregation and loses — the case coins "separate but equal," a century before Plessy is overturned.