7 Steps to Freedom
A Complicated History
Salem County, New Jersey, is in an area where free blacks lived alongside enslaved African Americans in the early 19th century, and it was close to the slave states during the Civil War. It was also home to one of the first Quaker settlements in America, a group that was known to assist freedom seekers. All this made Salem County an important station along the Underground Railroad.
7 Steps to Freedom tells stories about the struggle against slavery from different points of view, including a Quaker abolitionist, Civil War soldiers, a young African American girl who became a poet and a conductor on the Underground Railroad. Seven locations around Salem County are associated with these narratives and can be visited by following the maps found at this website. Journey in the footsteps of these people and listen to their stories by cell phone in the places they knew.
7 Steps to Freedom Index
- Abigail Goodwin, Quaker Abolitionist
- How One Woman Set Herself Free
- The Great Orator, Dr. John Stewart Rock
- A Slave Catcher on Trial in Salem
- Poet Hetty Saunders Describes Her Escape
- Thomas Clement Oliver, Underground Railroad Conductor
- Black Civil War Veterans Remembered
- Edward Richardson, Soldier
- People Behind 7 Steps to Freedom
- The Historians' Videos
The 7 Freedom Stories
Hear actors Lamont Dixon and Alexandra Ford bring to life the stories of a young poet, a slave catcher’s trial, an Underground Railroad conductor, a woman who set herself free, a great orator, and a Quaker abolitionist.
Abigail Goodwin, Quaker abolitionist
How one woman set herself free
The Great Orator, Dr. John Stewart Rock
A Slave Catcher on Trial in Salem
Poet Hetty Saunders Describes Her Escape
Thomas Clement Oliver, Underground Railroad conductor
Black Civil War veterans remembered