Shadrach Minkins

Released In Exile
Date of birth:1817
Date of death:13. 12. 1875
Age:58† Deceased
Gender:Male
Race:Black
Era:1800s
State:Massachusetts
Support
Abolitionism Black Liberation
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Biography

Black man held in Boston federal custody under the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 after escaping enslavement in Norfolk, Virginia. Defended by Richard Henry Dana Jr. and Robert Morris. On February 15, 1851 — while his lawyers awaited a court session — a Boston Vigilance Committee crowd of free Black Bostonians led by Lewis Hayden rushed the courthouse and freed him, hiding him in Beacon Hill before spiriting him to Montreal via the Underground Railroad. President Fillmore demanded prosecutions; juries acquitted all the rescuers. Minkins lived the rest of his life as a free man in Montreal, where he ran a restaurant and barber shop.

Case

Boston Court House
Charges: Held under the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850.
Arrested: Feb 15, 1851
Released: Feb 15, 1851
In exile since: Feb 15, 1851
Sentence: Escaped via the Underground Railroad to Montreal, where he lived in exile until his death. Verdict as recorded: No — rescued from federal custody by the Boston Vigilance Committee.
Convicted: No
Institution State: Massachusetts

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