"It was April 1857, and in the past decade hundreds of Black Marylanders had slipped off the farms and plantations where they were enslaved. Now local white leaders were beginning to suspect that Green knew more about the runaways than he let on. Green was a free Black man who lived in a cottage in Dorchester County, on the Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake Bay, where he farmed a modest plot"
"The sheriff and his posse soon found what they were looking for: a letter from Green's son, Sam Jr.; a map of Canada; railroad schedules for northbound trains; and a copy of Uncle Tom's Cabin, Harriet Beecher Stowe's blockbuster antislavery novel, published five years earlier. None of the items proved that Green had helped usher anyone to freedom—but the book turned out to be sufficiently incriminating."
Samuel Green was a free Black man who lived and farmed in Dorchester County, Maryland, and preached locally. After buying his own liberty, he covertly assisted conductors on the Underground Railroad, including Harriet Tubman. In April 1857 authorities searched his cottage and discovered correspondence, a map of Canada, northbound railroad schedules and a copy of Uncle Tom's Cabin. Although those items did not prove direct assistance to runaways, state prosecutors charged him under a Maryland law banning "abolition pamphlets," arguing that possession of the book could create discontent and justify imprisonment. The case unfolded amid Maryland's large free Black population and fragile slavery politics.
Read at Smithsonian Magazine
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