The Crosswhites escape to Canada
Jan. 27, 1847
Adam Crosswhite. Photo source: Michiganology.org
From the Zinn Education Project: On Jan. 27, 1847, several hundred citizens of Marshall, Michigan, helped Adam and Sarah Crosswhite escape from being kidnapped.
The Crosswhites had escaped from slavery in Kentucky and were living in Marshall with their four children when slave catchers came to kidnap them.
The townspeople detained the slave catchers while the Crosswhites fled to Canada. Learn more about their story from the Seeking Michigan archives. Also, the National Archives has papers related to their case, including a deposition given by the Crosswhites in Canada, as described in a National Archives Researcher News (Fall, 2016) article.
This is considered to be one of the cases that led to the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850.
The Crosswhites had escaped from slavery in Kentucky and were living in Marshall with their four children when slave catchers came to kidnap them.
The townspeople detained the slave catchers while the Crosswhites fled to Canada. Learn more about their story from the Seeking Michigan archives. Also, the National Archives has papers related to their case, including a deposition given by the Crosswhites in Canada, as described in a National Archives Researcher News (Fall, 2016) article.
This is considered to be one of the cases that led to the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850.