New book explores the life of slavery abolitionist Thomas Smallwood

Veteran award-wining journalist and author Scott Shane, who lives in Baltimore, started researching the history of the domestic slave trade at Baltimore’s Inner Harbor many years ago and discovered Thomas Smallwood.

“He is an extraordinary guy,” said Shane. “I discovered that he was helping a decade or so before Harriet Tubman was active. He was helping people escape Washington, D.C., and Baltimore, and surrounding counties by the wagonload, 10, 15, even 20 people at a time.”

Shane used his research as the blueprint and focus of his new book, “Flee North.” The book tells the story of Smallwood, an abolitionist, liberator, and writer who bought his own freedom and led hundreds out of slavery.