the path to freedom
After U.S. Congress passed the Kansas-Nebraska Act bill on May 30, 1854, people in the territories of Kansas and Nebraska were free to decide for themselves whether or not to allow slavery within their borders. Since people of the Kansas Territory chose to be free, many fugitive slaves from Missouri who were seeking solace headed for the Quindaro Township, which was located in the Kansas Territory, on the bluffs of the right bank of the Missouri River.