Virtual Lecture: Stealing Freedom Along the Mason Dixon Line

The controversy over slave catching and kidnapping (the distinction between the two activities were not always clear) contributed to the growing hostility between Northern and Southern states in the decades leading up to Civil War, and this hostility was reflected in the relationship between Maryland and Pennsylvania. The story of Thomas McCreary, a Maryland slave catcher and kidnapper, who never took his captives before a court, presents a closeup view and insight into the controversies over slave catching and kidnapping. The Maryland government insisted McCreary was a heroic slave catcher, a defender of Maryland property rights. Many Pennsylvanians, and some Marylanders and Delawareans, regarded McCreary a villainous kidnapper, and two Pennsylvania governors wanted him extradited from Maryland and tried for kidnapping. Maryland governors refused. African Americans who experienced the brutality, communities outraged by the violent incursion of slave hunters, and abolitionists openly opposed to slavery struggled for justice for these victims. But stakeholders in the institution of slavery went to great lengths, including murder, to protect McCreary.

Most of McCreary’s kidnappings occurred in western Chester County, including the famous kidnapping of the Parker sisters, two free-born young girls, and their community’s courageous effort to save them from slavery.

About the Speaker: Milt Diggins is a retired educator, an independent researcher, public historian, speaker, and author. He has researched the Underground Railroad, slave catching, and kidnapping in the Philadelphia-Wilmington-Baltimore Corridor, and he has given numerous presentations on those issues throughout the region. His book, Stealing Freedom along the Mason-Dixon Line, published by the Maryland Historical Society (renamed the Maryland Center for History and Culture), uses the story of an Elkton, Maryland slave catcher and kidnapper to frame a larger story of slave catching and kidnapping in the region around the time of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850.

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Presentation is via Zoom, and will be recorded and available for 7 days for all registered participants. We will email out a Zoom link the day of the presentation, and email a link to the recording within 24 hours. Note: the Zoom link emailed out the day of the presentation only takes you to the live presentation; the link emailed out the day after will contain the recorded version.

This presentation is made possible by the generous support of The Haverford Trust Company.