Shadrach Minkins

Shadrach Minkins (c. 1814 – December 13, 1875) was an African-American fugitive slave from Virginia who escaped in 1850 and reached Boston.

[1] He is known for being freed from a courtroom in Boston after being captured by United States marshals under the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850.

[4] United States marshals, who posed as customers at Taft's Cornhill Coffee House where Minkins worked, arrested him on February 15, 1851.

Attorneys, including Samuel E. Sewall, Ellis Gray Loring, Robert Morris and Richard Henry Dana Jr., offered their services to defend Minkins.

Seeking to have Minkins released from police custody, they filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus with the Supreme Judicial Court, which was refused by Chief Justice Lemuel Shaw.

[5] The rescue of Minkins brought calls for President Millard Fillmore to use federal troops to help marshals enforce the Fugitive Slave Law.

[17] Top Eye Open, a 2016 play by Dillon Bustin, dramatizes the story of Shadrach Minkins.