#leargreen

Shipped in a Chest to Freedom

Imagine squeezing into a wooden trunk, holding your breath for hours, and praying that a stranger doesn't open the lid. This terrifying reality was the price of freedom for Lear Green, a young enslaved woman who literally mailed herself out of slavery in 1857. While history books often celebrate Henry "Box" Brown, Green's equally daring escape proves that courage came in many forms during the fight against slavery.

The Incredible Escape

Lear Green lived in Baltimore, Maryland, where the threat of capture was constant. With the help of her fiancé, William Adams, and his mother, Green hatched a plan that sounds more like a movie script than history. She climbed inside a large sea chest, which was then locked and loaded onto a steamboat bound for Philadelphia.

The journey was grueling. Green remained confined in the dark, airless box for 18 long hours. To make matters even more suspenseful, her future mother-in-law accompanied the chest on the trip, pretending to be a traveler with simple luggage while guarding the secret of the living cargo inside. Thanks to the Underground Railroad, a secret network of abolitionists, she successfully reached free soil in Pennsylvania.

Key Facts

The Method: Green escaped by hiding inside a locked sea chest shipped via steamboat.

The Duration: She stayed inside the box for approximately 18 hours during the trip from Baltimore to Philadelphia.

The Accomplices: Her fiancé, William Adams, and his mother organized and executed the dangerous plan.

The Outcome: Green reached freedom but sadly passed away just three years later in Elmira, New York, at the young age of 21.

Historical Context

Green's escape occurred shortly after the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, a harsh law that allowed slave catchers to recapture runaways even in free northern states. Because safety in the North was no longer guaranteed, many freedom seekers aimed for Canada, where slavery had been abolished. Although Green and Adams initially planned to head north to Canada, they ultimately settled in New York, living freely until her untimely death.

Historical Significance

Lear Green's story highlights the extreme risks enslaved people were willing to take for liberty. While often overshadowed by Henry "Box" Brown, who performed a similar feat two years earlier, Green's narrative emphasizes the vital role of family and community in the Underground Railroad. Her brief life serves as a powerful reminder that the fight for freedom was fought not just by famous leaders, but by ordinary individuals displaying extraordinary bravery.

Lear Green: Escaping Slavery in a Chest

Lear Green (circa 1839-1860) was an enslaved African American woman in Baltimore, Maryland, who had herself shipped in a chest to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to escape slavery. Her story is frequently compared to that of Henry Box Brown (circa 1815-1897), "the man who mailed himself to freedom" in a large box in 1849.

In Green's case, she had the help of her fiancé, a free Black named William Adams, and Adams' mother, also free, who accompanied the chest on its 18-hour trip from Baltimore to Philadelphia circa 1857. Green and the Adams were assisted in her escape by members of the Underground Railroad, a network of safe houses and locations operated by abolitionists running north to Canada, where slavery had been abolished.

After the US Congress passed the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, runaway slaves could more easily be recaptured by their masters, the master's agents, or professional slave-catchers, and so many continued on through the Underground Railroad network to Canada, where they could not be returned to slavery.

This seems to have been the plan of Lear Green and William Adams, but once she was freed, they settled in Elmira, New York, where they lived for three years until Green's death (cause unknown) in 1860 at the age of 21.

Lear Green & William Still

As with many fugitive slaves who found freedom in the North, Lear Green was helped by William Still (1819-1902), an African American abolitionist and the son of a fugitive slave from Maryland. Still, often referred to as The Father of the Underground Railroad, kept extensive records of all the people he helped find freedom in the North, believing these would someday assist in reuniting families.

In 1872, he published these documents as The Underground Railroad Records, in which he details the escape of Lear Green and how she lived only three years after marrying Adams in Elmira. There is almost no other information on her available. The chest she escaped in is part of a permanent exhibit, Tides of Freedom: African-American Presence on the Delaware River, curated by Professor Tukufu Zuberi, at the Independence Seaport Museum, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Green lived with William Still in Philadelphia until arrangements could be made to send her on to Elmira, New York, where William Adams received her, and they were married. The primary reason for Green attempting the escape was that, as a slave, her children would be born into slavery, and she could not bear that thought. Even so, there is no record of William and Lear Adams of Elmira, New York, ever having children, and, after Lear's death in 1860, nothing is recorded concerning William.

Read More

Lear Green: Celle qui fuit l'esclavage dans une malle

Lear Green (vers 1839-1860) était une femme afro-américaine réduite en esclavage à Baltimore, dans le Maryland, qui se fit expédier dans une malle à Philadelphie, en Pennsylvanie, pour échapper à l'esclavage. Son histoire est souvent comparée à celle de Henry Box Brown (vers 1815-1897), "l'homme qui s'est expédié vers la liberté" dans une grande boîte en 1849.