The Underground Railroad (painting)

The painting shows a large family of escaped Southern slaves being received in the Northern winter by a group of white abolitionists led by Quaker Levi Coffin.

The Weber painting shows black slaves, fugitives from the south, being guided through the snow to shelter at the Indiana farm of Levi Coffin and his wife.

[1] Mary Ellen Snodgrass writes:[2] The focus of the dramatic grouping reflects the daring and resourcefulness of blacks, old and young, in fleeing the South.

The scenario honors stationkeepers in cold northern climes, which Webber depicted with an icy white background.Hannah Haydock, another abolitionist, is also present at the scene as Coffin, standing on the wagon, is shown helping the slaves with his wife, Catherine.

The young instructor, so moved by the emotional experience of viewing the painting, published his own book on the subject of the Underground Railroad five years later.