From the beginnings of slavery until the Civil War, countless numbers of African Americans attempted to make or succeeded in making their way to freedom. It was during the nineteenth century, however, that the migration of runaways within the United States and to Canada and Mexico became widespread. It is estimated that at least 50,000 men, women and children ran away each year and among them a few thousand made it to freedom.

A few fugitives became prominent abolitionists who wrote autobiographies, thus contributing to a unique American literary genre, the Slave Narrative. At enormous risk, many others helped their families and friends and even strangers, secure their own freedom.

The Migration of Fugitive Slaves Within the United States and to Canada by Loren Schweninger, The University of North Carolina at Greensboro