Scott Shane is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and acclaimed author, best known for his gripping new biography Flee North, which brings to life the astonishing story of Thomas Smallwood, an abolitionist, satirist, and unsung American hero who named the Underground Railroad.

In this episode, we uncover the electrifying journey of Thomas Smallwood, a formerly enslaved man who bought his own freedom, teamed up with a young white activist, and helped orchestrate daring mass escapes from slavery in Washington, D.C., and Baltimore, all while ridiculing slaveholders in biting newspaper columns.

Shane takes us deep into Smallwood’s world of resistance and risk, revealing how he battled the brutal slave trade with strategy, courage, and satire, and why his legacy was nearly lost to history.

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Chapters:

0:00 - Intro

0:47 - The challenge of telling this story

7:54 - Who was Thomas Smallwood?

23:44 - The alliance: Smallwood and Torrey

35:55 - Building the underground railroad

44:10 - Mocking slaveholders in print

51:21 - The true origin of ‘Underground Railroad’

57:57 - The escape to Canada

1:00:45 - Erased from history. Buried without a marker.