The Underground Railroad in Jefferson County, Indiana An Interracial Partnership Ahead of Its Time

Abstract

The history of the Underground Railroad has long been marked by contentious debate. Surviving evidence from Jefferson County, Indiana, sheds new light on the day-to-day operations of the Underground Railroad in southeastern Indiana and the Ohio River border region. Historian J. Michael Raley examines the complex interracial network of fugitive slaves, their enslaved and free black families and friends, the free black residents of the Georgetown community in Madison, Indiana, and white abolitionists from area churches and antislavery societies. Their efforts were not without risk. In aiding runaway slaves in their flight northward, people of color secretly collaborated with trusted whites at grave peril to themselves and their families, and despite all efforts, fugitives from slavery far too often were recaptured in route. For those who succeeded in reaching Canada as well as for those who aided them, however, the potential dangers were always more than worth the risk.