Underground Railroad

The Underground Railroad Collection is a sampling of objects and paintings from the New-York Historical Society Museum that tells the story of resistance to slavery, the movement of fugitives, and the experiences and achievements of the enslaved and the free African American community of the North. It includes artifacts from the abolitionist movement, portraits of notable antislavery people, narrative art such as figure groups by John Rogers, and commemorative items such as a silver pitcher commissioned to mark the end of slavery in New York in 1827. These holdings have been studied and interpreted with support from the U.S. Department of Education Underground Railroad Educational and Cultural Program.