S8 Ep09 "Flee North" with Author Scott Shane

Your History Your Story

Thomas Smallwood was born into slavery in Maryland in 1801. Smallwood, a shoemaker, later moved to Washington DC where, at age 30, he was able to purchase his freedom. While living in Washington, he witnessed the day to day activities of slave traders who were involved in selling enslaved blacks into the Deep South, where they would work on cotton and sugar plantations. The domestic slave trade often permanently separated wives from husbands and children from parents.

In this environment in which both enslaved and free blacks were fearful of being sold south, Smallwood became determined to take action to help people to escape north to Canada, where they would be safe from slave hunters seeking to return them to their enslavers.

Smallwood, who was self educated, eventually teamed up with a much younger, Yale educated, white abolitionist from Massachusetts named Charles Torrey. Together, the two men created what may have been the first Underground Railroad that ran through Washington DC, helping many to escape being sold south. In addition to facilitating escapes,Smallwood became a prolific writer and taunted slave traders through articles he wrote that were published in northern newspapers.

In this episode of Your History Your Story, we will be speaking with author and Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, Scott Shane. Scott will share exciting stories from his recently released book, “Flee North: A Forgotten Hero and the Fight for Freedom in Slavery’s Borderland”.

“Flee North” tells the story of Smallwood, Torrey and their fight against the domestic slave trade in the 1840’s.

Music: "With Loved Ones" Jay Man

Photo(s) and songs: Courtesy of Scott Shane

Scott Shane website

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