Artwork
Portrait of Anthony Burns published in 1855, a year after his trial and return to Virginia. Burns' case was the last fugitive slave case in Boston and it incited a violent reaction from the public, who attacked the courthouse in an attempt to rescue him.
Anthony Burns was the subject of the last fugitive slave case in Boston, Massachusetts. He sought freedom after escaping slavery in Virginia in 1854. Not long after, famous slave catcher Asa Butman was sent to Boston to capture Burns. Due to an unfortunate accident, Burns was left with an injury that made him easily identifiable and he was arrested that year. His kidnapping elicited a violent reaction from abolitionists, who had grown tired of Black Bostonians being captured and forced into slavery. While they failed to free him before he was sent to Virginia, their reactions showed clear displeasure for the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. Later, they helped Burns buy his freedom, and he moved to Canada and became a Baptist preacher.
