Born in 1801 in Prince George’s County, Maryland, Thomas Smallwood knew he had led a long, winding journey of a life.
But it included one iconic stop: naming the Underground Railroad.
When reading Smallwood’s work, you’ll quickly find he had a strong, self-determined voice. He refused to rely on white abolitionists to add credibility to his memoir. His writing in an anti-slavery newspaper re-centered a Black perspective.
And his pen was sharp.
One day, Smallwood overheard a white police officer complaining about enslaved people “disappearing.” The cop sarcastically claimed they must have been on an “underground railroad.”
Well, Smallwood’s sarcasm was better.
Smallwood reclaimed what he heard, printing it in the newspaper’s August 10, 1842, edition. He turned the backhanded comment into a mythical, empowering homage to those helping enslaved Black Americans flee North, including himself. He delegitimized the “authority” of enslavers, making them the butt of the joke.
It became his ongoing comedic bit. Smallwood even called himself the “general agent of all the branches of the National Underground Railroad.”
Eventually, the name stuck. It isn’t an exaggeration to say Smallwood created history – a history that has been misrepresented until now.
In the future, our present will become the next generation’s history. We are history-makers, too. Smallwood’s legacy reminds us to claim our experience, history, and liberation as our own.