Freedom Ship

Marcus Rediker, a pre-eminent scholar of Atlantic history and author of The Slave Ship, reveals the Underground Railroad’s maritime origins.

As many as 100,000 enslaved people fled bondage in the antebellum South, finding safe harbor across North America.

Traditional images of fugitives moving house to house miss a vital truth: many escapes happened by sea.

Deeply researched and grippingly told, Freedom Ship traces stowaways and the vessels that carried them north to Canada.

From Carolina waterways and the Chesapeake Bay to Boston harbor, these stories show conspiracy, mutiny, and liberation.

The book profiles freedom seekers and leaders, including Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman.

Essential reading for anyone who wants the full history of North America’s most significant movement for freedom.