Dedication:

The African American Heritage Trail of Martha’s Vineyard honors the Wampanoag Tribe.

“He had resolved when he ran away the second time that he would never be taken back alive, but instead would die fighting for his freedom.”
Netta Vanderhoop, 3rd Feburary, 1921.

In 1850, the federal Fugitive Slave Act required that people running from slavery in the South to freedom in the North must be returned to the slaveholders. To help a runaway escape was a crime.

The Wampanoag Tribe of Aquinnah disobeyed the Fugitive Slave Act and provided a refuge for runaways helping them on their road to freedom.

Randall Burton

Edgar Jones