Description

Title from item.Full text of this broadside reads: "A man kidnapped! A public meeting at Faneuil Hall! Will be held this Friday even'g, May 26th, at 7 o'clock, to secure justice for a man claimed as a slave by a Virginia kidnapper! And now imprisoned in Boston Court House, in defiance of the laws of Massachusetts. Shall he be plunged into the hell of Virginia slavery by a Massachusetts judge of probate? Boston, May 26th, 1854."Date from item.This broadside publicizes the arrest of the fugitive slave Anthony Burns, who escaped from Richmond, Virginia and made his way to Boston where, on May 24th, 1854, he was arrested. While he was awaiting trial for extradition to Virginia, a large crowd of abolitionists and anti-slavery sympathizers stormed the jail in which he was held in an attempt to free him. Federal troops were eventually sent to Boston to support the extradition, and Burns was ultimately returned to Virginia. He was later ransomed from slavery, eventually obtaining an education at Oberlin College and becoming a Baptist minister.

Record Contributed By

Boston Public Library

Record Harvested From

Digital Commonwealth