New plaque honours former slave who fled U.S. in 1850 and found freedom in Montreal

During the 1800s, thousands of people escaped slavery using the Underground Railroad. Many of them came to Montreal. 

One of them, Shadrach Minkins, travelled hundreds of kilometres and escaped arrest, looking for freedom. Now, a plaque has been added to his tombstone.

At the Mount Royal Cemetery, there's a story of bravery and escape from one of North America's darkest chapters.

"Shadrach Minkins was born enslaved in Virginia, probably Norfolk. From there, he decided to self-emancipate," explained Webster, a hip-hop artist and historian who has documented Minkins' life after his escape from slavery and journey to Boston.

"He was arrested under the Fugitive Slave Act in 1850 and was rescued by the African Bostonian community who stormed the courthouse, and sent him to Montreal through the Underground Railroad."

His story was reported in the Liberator, an anti-slavery newspaper. It says his rescuers, "without any weapons in their hands ... seize their doomed brother, almost unresistingly, and in the twinkling of an eye, hurry him out of the room, and soon place him beyond the reach of his pursuers."

Through the Underground Railroad he came to Montreal.

"He was an entrepreneur, really, because he owned some barber shops and some restaurants. He knew what to do to make a living," said Myriam Cloutier, Mount Royal Cemetery's director of heritage programs.

But it wasn't easy. There was slavery and racism here as well and the risks of being taken back remained.

"Back in the late 18th into the 19th century, anybody could really cross over, and slave catchers did go north," said Jacqueline Madison, president of North Country Underground Railroad Historical Association/North Star Museum.

Webster added: "We don't often talk about what was going on with the people who would settle here and they would live [through] system racism [and exclusion]."

Minkins remained in Montreal in 1875. He died at age 63 and was buried at the cemetery.

In front of his tombstone a new plaque tells his story.

"His monument is very old and it's made of marble so we can't really read the information anymore, so by putting a plaque in front of it and by putting a short summary of his life, we give people the chance to discover that such a great person is buried here," Cloutier said.

Webster said he wants people to "remember that people resisted slavery, that people were not only passive victims of slavery, but they took their destiny into their own hands and this is what Shadrach did."