Laura S. Haviland

The Midwestern United States were of vital importance to the Underground Railroad. The upper Midwestern states shared a border with Canada, the ultimate destination for many thousands of fugitive slaves. Because Windsor, Ontario, was just across the river from Detroit, the Underground Railroad in Michigan was especially active. Canadian-born Laura S. Haviland and her husband Charles established Michigan's first Underground Railroad "station" in 1834. A devout Quaker, Haviland also was a teacher who taught black as well as white children at the Raisin Institute, which she founded in 1837, and later at schools in Ohio. Her dedication to abolitionism and service to the Underground Railroad prompted Southern slaveholders to put up a $3,000 reward for her capture.

In the following selection, which is an excerpt from her memoir, Haviland describes the informal but painstaking organization and coordination of a group...