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The Underground Railroad and the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850

A broadside announcing the Fugitive Slave Bill of 1850.

A broadside announcing the Fugitive Slave Bill of 1850.

Citation Information: “Fugitive Slave Bill,” Digital Public Library of America, https://dp.la/item/6b8f1395c43d9a18e26a21407ba7d260.

Note: These citations are programmatically generated and may be incomplete.

Courtesy of East Carolina University via North Carolina Digital Heritage Center.

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Item 6 of 15 in the Primary Source Set The Underground Railroad and the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850

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A broadside announcing the Fugitive Slave Bill of 1850.

An excerpt from The Fugitive Slave Law and its Victims, an 1861 antislavery book listing cases of individuals targeted by the Fugitive Slave Law.

“Leap of the Fugitive Slave,” an 1880 drawing of a woman leaping to her death rather than be returned to her master.

A drawing called “Operations of the Fugitive-Slave Law.”

An 1850 political cartoon, “Effects of the Fugitive Slave Law,” showing four escaped slaves being recaptured by armed white men.

A poster calling for a meeting in Camillus, New York in 1852 to protest the Fugitive Slave Law.

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