When the Fugitive Slave Act passed in 1851, Shadrach Minkins was in trouble. After escaping slavery in Virginia months earlier, he found refuge in Boston, even beginning work there as a barista. But that year, a federal marshal arrested him at his job.
Minkins officially became the first “fugitive” to be seized in Massachusetts under the new law.
Legally, there wasn’t much to be done. This is why, on the day of Minkins’ hearing, authorities were shocked when a group of free Black men rushed into the courtroom, grabbed Minkins, and ran out into the crowded street, where hundreds gathered in protest.
By nightfall, Minkins had disappeared. But his rescuers weren’t off the hook.
Seven were indicted, including lawyer Robert Morris and clothing dealer James Scott. But trial after trial, jurors kept returning mistrials and not guilty verdicts. The fight for liberation, whether from enslavement or the criminal legal system, won.
From those leading prison uprisings to Cop City protesters, the legacy of Shadrach Minkins’ rescue lives on today. The process of liberation won’t end until everyone is free.
The organized audacity of Black abolitionists accomplished Minkins’ freedom. To them, his liberation wasn’t impossible, no matter what the law proclaimed. What if the key to liberating our communities today is acting on the “impossible,” too?