12. Anthony Burns: The Case That Shook Boston
Anthony Burns’s arrest in Boston in 1854 ignited a firestorm of protest. Abolitionists staged a dramatic rescue attempt, and the city became a battleground over the Fugitive Slave Act. Though Burns was initially forced back into slavery, the overwhelming public outcry led to his freedom—he was eventually purchased by supporters and liberated. His ordeal drew national attention to the moral crisis of slavery and galvanized the abolitionist movement. Read more at National Park Service.
