A team of scholars from Temple University have published new research revealing insights into the journeys of nearly 1,000 people who escaped slavery and arrived in Philadelphia via the Underground Railroad between 1853 and 1861.
For their study, the research team examined digitized records originally made by William Still, a Black abolitionist who worked for the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society and was a key figure in Philadelphia’s Vigilance Committee. While assisting people fleeing enslavement, Still secretly recorded their stories, family histories, and places of origin, which later helped reunite many Black families.
In their analysis of Still’s records, the authors traced the routes of people escaping slavery north to Philadelphia. The most common counties of origin for these freedom seekers included Norfolk and Henrico Counties in Virginia (122 and 61 escapes, respectively), Dorchester and Baltimore Counties in Maryland (84 and 79 escapes, respectively), and Sussex County in Delaware (48 escapes).
The research also found travel patterns among these escapes; for those originating from the southern Chesapeake Bay, travel by steamship and schooner was more common, while travel by road and on foot was more common for escapes nearer to Philadelphia. The total number of escapes increased from 1853 to 1857 and declined abruptly thereafter.
“The story of the Underground Railroad, and of its key figures, such as William Still and Harriet Tubman, are mostly unknown to the general public,” said co-author Jeremy Mennis, professor of geography at Temple University. “If you want to understand the present social, political and economic situation in the U.S., you must understand the historical legacies of the past. It is particularly important for Philadelphians to know this history, given the central role the city played in the Underground Railroad, which serves as an interesting complement to its more well-known place as the locus of American Independence.”
