In the decades leading up to the Civil War, enslaved people who traveled to freedom on foot did so mainly from Southern states that bordered free states. But those in the deep South didn’t have that option and they often made their journey north by ship from the South’s long coastline, with the help of free blacks, as well as white sailors. Historian Marcus Rediker sets the record straight, illuminating the ways that the culture of port cities and of free black communities helped the formerly enslaved make their way to freedom.

Marcus Rediker, Freedom Ship: The Uncharted History of Escaping Slavery by Sea Viking, 2025

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