February 15, 1851

Shadrach Minkins Seized

Region:
Greater Boston

On this day in 1851, a group of outraged African American men burst into a courtroom in Boston and rescued Shadrach Minkins, the first escaped slave seized in New England under the 1850 Fugitive Slave Law. Under the new law, northern authorities were required to help owners recapture slaves who had escaped to the North. When Shadrach Minkins's master found out that he was in Boston, he had U.S. marshals arrest him. They took him to the federal courthouse in Boston, where an angry crowd gathered. They stormed the courtroom and freed Minkins. He was taken to a hiding place on Beacon Hill. That night, he began his journey on the Underground Railroad. Six days later, he arrived safely in Canada.

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