The article details Massachusetts history of the Underground Railroad and abolitionists who aided fugitive slaves to reach Canada. The article discusses the travel routes used to help fugitive slaves travel through the state. Several anecdotes are related including one about New Bedford's 1851 exodus of African Americans to Canada in response to fears raised by the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850; the 1793 trial of a runaway slave represented by Josiah Quincy, later mayor of Boston; and abolitionist John Brown's militant anti-slavery group known as the "Springfield Gileadites." The article also discusses subjects including the Boston Vigilance Committee, abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison and his periodical "Liberator," and problems faced by free blacks.