Underground Railroad in Michigan

By mathe2ba

  • Underground Railroad in MI

    Underground Railroad in MI
    Paths taken by fugitives through Michigan to Canada.
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    Underground Railroad

    This is the duration of the Underground Railroad throughout the United Staes.
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    Detroit

    One of the most critical stops on the Underground Railroad, final stop before achieving freedom in Canada.
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    Detroit's Second Baptist Church

    Michigan's first African American congregation, vital station on the Underground Railroad that housed 5,000 freedom seekers
    Members from the congregation founded two anti-slavery organizations.

  • Kalamazoo County and Henry Montague

    First known fugitives can to Kalamazoo county in 1837. Henry Montague was the one who provide them with food and took them to Galesburg. This marked the beginning of the Underground Railroad in Kalamazoo County.

  • William Lambert

    William Lambert
    worked the Underground Railroad, organized an African American secret order, led the Detroit Vigilant Committee, a deacon, and worked to bring education to African American children living in Detroit.
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    Dr. Nathan Thomas House

    Home of two of Michigan's most Underground Railroad participants. Nathan Thomas and his wife, Pamela, helped more than 1,000 fugitives into safety. Took the fugitives from their place in Kalamazoo to another safe house in Battle Creek.

  • Quakertown

    Quakertown
    located at the intersection of Devereaux and Gibbs Rd, Parma Township. Marks location of an active Underground Railroad community.

  • The Crosswhites

    The Crosswhites
    Family that escaped from Kentucky to Michigan near Marshall. Had a signal with his neighbors in case of slave catchers coming to get them. Heard signal one morning in 1847. Four slave catchers showed up to take them back. One hundred people, African Americans and whites, blocked the men longer enough for the family to escape to Canada. Marshall people had to pay the men from Kentucky for the "legal property."

  • Cass County Courthouse

    Cass County Courthouse
    Best known Underground Railroad affiliated site for the area. Abolitionists turned away slave catchers who came to the Quaker farms looking for fugitives.
    1847 Kentucky Raid is the official name for this and largely marked the beginning of the Civil War.

  • The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850

    This act ensured that "runaway" slaves could be captured and returned their holders in the South, even if they were in a free state.

  • Frederick Douglass and Second Baptist Church

    Famous abolitionist, Frederick Douglass gave an antislavery speech at the Second Baptist Church in Detroit.