Slavery

In April 1848, more than 76 enslaved people in Washington, D.C. slipped aboard The Pearl under the cover of darkness and the small schooner set sail down the Potomac. Backed by abolitionists including Daniel Drayton, the voyage promised hope but calm winds and betrayal turned it into one of the most dramatic failed escapes in American history.

Yarrow Mamout — a West African who survived the Middle Passage, won his freedom, and became one of early Washington’s most remarkable figures — left a rare portrait of early Georgetown.