Shadrach Minkins: From Fugitive Slave to Citizen

Product Description:

On February 15, 1851, Shadrach Minkins was serving breakfast at a coffeehouse in Boston when history caught up with him. He became the first runaway to be arrested in New England under the 1850 Fugitive Slave Law. In a remarkable record of historical sleuthing, the author has recovered the true story of Shadrach Minkins' life and times. A rare and engrossing picture of the life of an ordinary black man in 19th-century North America. 17 photos.


Amazon.com Review:

An impressive feat of detective work lies behind this portrait of Shadrach Minkins, the first black man arrested in New England under the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850. Minkins had escaped from slavery in Virginia and come to Boston, where he was arrested in February 1851. Before his case could come to trial, however, a group of black citizens invaded the courtroom and spirited Minkins away. Thereafter, except for scattered newspaper accounts and anecdotes, Minkins was lost to history. In uncovering evidence that Minkins settled in Montreal, where he helped establish a community of blacks who fled slavery, author Gary Collison restores Minkins and paints a fascinating portrait of those troubled times.