Grand Central Station on the Underground Railroad
After the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, federal law required free states to aid in the capture of escaped slaves. It became much more dangerous for an escaped slave to move about during the day, even on free soil. Escapees would hide in safe houses where the people who sheltered them risked jail and fines. One such house in Indiana, owned by Levi and Catherine Coffin, where three escape routes converged, became known as the Grand Central station of the Underground Railroad. Levi Coffin was called its president for helping more than 2,000 slaves reach freedom in Canada.
Slaves who reached Coffin's house included Eliza Harris, whose story of crossing the frozen Ohio river with a child in her arms was told in Uncle Tom's Cabin.
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