Ephemera
A broadside published by abolitionists a year after the passing of the Fugitive Slave Act. Local authorities were promoted by federal law to act as slave catchers and marshals, so abolitionists posted these in Boston to warn Black citizens of the danger that now lurked within the city. 1851.
In 1850, as part of a federally commissioned compromise between the North and the South, the Fugitive Slave Act was passed. Though not the first version of this legislation to exist, the 1850 rendition was particularly dangerous, enabling local authorities to capture suspected “runaway slaves” and move them South. It spread large amounts of fear among free Black men, women, and children and abolitionists alike, as suddenly Southern slave law was sanctioned within free Northern states. Its passing in Congress prompted the rebirth of Boston’s Vigilance Committee, an abolitionist group dedicated to securing freedom for those who sought it. This broadside was published by abolitionists in 1851 to warn Black citizens of Boston of the dangers of the Fugitive Slave Act and the local authorities who were sanctioned as slave catchers, as Boston had a small Black population and the threat of slavery now loomed just around the corner.
