A Ride for Liberty – The Fugitive Slaves is an oil on paperboard painting by the American artist Eastman Johnson, from 1862.

According to the Brooklyn Museum, the work is considered "virtually unique in art of the period" in portraying the former slaves as "agents of their own freedom.

[3] Early in the morning on March 2, 1862, Johnson claimed to have seen a family of African Americans fleeing towards the Union Army lines in the hopes of acquiring contraband status.

[6] A manuscript label on the back of the painting signed by the artist recounts: "A veritable incident/in the Civil War seen by/myself at Centerville/on this morning of/McClellan's advance towards Manassas March 2, 1862/Eastman Johnson.

[10][8] It has also been praised by historians as one of only a handful of contemporary works depicting the plight of slaves fleeing captivity in the South.