The Pearl Escape of 1848: Seventy-Seven People Who Tried to Sail to Freedom in the Shadow of the U.S. Capitol

In April 1848, seventy-seven enslaved people boarded a small schooner called The Pearl in Washington, D.C., hoping to sail 225 miles to freedom. Their coordinated escape attempt, planned in the shadow of the U.S. Capitol, became one of the largest mass escape efforts in American history and helped shape national debates on slavery.