Shadrach Minkins escaped slavery in Virginia in 1850 and fled to Boston. He worked as a waiter until February 1851 when he was arrested by federal marshals and taken to the courthouse. The Boston Vigilance Committee, an abolitionist organization to protect escaped slaves from being captured and returned to slavery in the South, hired lawyers to defend Minkins.
On February 15, 1851, about twenty black activists stormed the courthouse, overpowered the marshals, and released Minkins. They spirited him away in a wagon to Beacon Hill and hid him in an attic until nightfall. With the help of the Underground Railroad, he escaped to Canada.
He settled in Montreal and never returned to the United States. He passed away in December 1875.
