Samuel D. Burris

Released
Full name:Samuel Burris
Date of birth:14. 10. 1813
Date of death:03. 12. 1863
Age:50† Deceased
Gender:Male
Race:Black
Era:1800s
State:Delaware
Support
Abolitionism Underground Railroad
Samuel D. Burris

Biography

Samuel D. Burris was a free Black Underground Railroad conductor from western Kent County, Delaware, documented in William Still's "The Underground Railroad." In July 1847 he was imprisoned for assisting the freedom seeker Maria Matthews; convicted in two of the cases against him, he was sentenced to be sold into slavery by the state. At his auction the Pennsylvania Abolition Society secretly raised $500 and bought his freedom. He later moved to Philadelphia and then San Francisco.

Case

Charges: Assisting enslaved people to escape (Kent County, Delaware) — conducting freedom seekers such as Maria Matthews and the Hawkins family toward Wilmington.
Incarcerated: July 1847
Sentence: Sold at auction; the Pennsylvania Abolition Society covertly bought him for $500 and freed him. Verdict as recorded: Yes — convicted in two cases and sentenced to be sold into slavery.
Convicted: Yes

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