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Fugitive Slave Act

2m 15s

The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 was the last attempt by the government in Washington to appease the southern slave states and shut down the Underground Railroad. It required every state and territory in the United States to assist in the return of fugitive slaves and gave slave owners the right to seek them out even in states that had abolished slavery.

Underground Railroad: The William Still Story is made possible by CN Railway, the Rogers Cable Network, Canada Media Fund, The Rogers Documentary Fund, and by The Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
Extras
This is the story of a man who risked his life shepherding runaway slaves to freedom.
Program segment for PBS Learning Media.
Program segment for PBS Learning Media
Program segment for PBS Learning Media.
Slaves who ran away from their masters and were re-captured suffered terrible punishments.
Historians have never been able to pin down how the Underground Railroad got its name.
Well-known Negro Spirituals of the mid-1800s are much more complex than they first appear.
William Still earned the name "The Father of the Underground Railroad".
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This is the story of a man who risked his life shepherding runaway slaves to freedom.