Thomas Smallwood (b. 1801 - d.)
MSA SC 5496 - 8788
Accomplice to Slave Flight, Prince George's County, Maryland, and
Washington, D.C., 1840s
Biography:
Smallwood was born in Prince George County, MD on February 22,1801.
Smallwood was due to be set
free at the age of thirty. At age twenty-five,
he hired himself from his master for sixty dollars a year. While
still a slave, Smallwood learned to read from his master and mistress.
Later, Smallwood
remembered how whites were fascinated by his progress.
As a free adult, Smallwood became interested in African colonization because he believed that it was the key to freedom for the black race. The colonization movement would collapse as the nation moved closer to civil war. Smallwood also pursued his activist leanings by working for the Underground Railroad. Smallwood assisted slaves in the D.C. and Maryland area to escape from slavery. In this line of work, Smallwood was often betrayed by the people he hired. For example, Smallwood employed a Mr. George Lee to assist the slaves in their journey. Behind Smallwood back, Lee insisted that the runaway slaves pay more money; telling the slaves that the request came from Smallwood. After blackmailing the fugitives, Lee would turn them over to the authorities. The unsuspecting slaves blamed Smallwood for Lee's dishonesty, accusing him of extortion. Smallwood had to give up his Underground Railroad activities when he attempted to aid fourteen slaves escaping from Washington, D. C., but had to abandon his charges when the police went after him. After this disastrous attempt, Smallwood went back to Toronto, Canada where he lived as a free man.
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