Twenty-Eight Fugitives Escaping from the Eastern Shore of Maryland

Art Historical Context

**Twenty-Eight Fugitivesaping from the Eastern Shore of Maryland** is a compelling 1872 print by F. Osler, in the Smithsonian American Art's collection and credited to the National Portrait. Created just seven years after the Civil's end, this work captures a dramatic moment of defiance against slavery, depicting 28 individuals fleeing from Maryland's Eastern Shore—a region pivotal to the Underground Railroad network that aided thousands of enslaved people in their quest for freedom. As a print, the medium was ideal for broad dissemination in the post-emancipation era, allowing historical nar...