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or you can get all of History Daily plus other fantastic history podcasts at into History.com. It's April 27th, 1860, outside a courthouse in Troy, New York. On the courthouse

a quiet black woman wearing a bonnet stands among a furious

crowd. Half the people here back slavery. The other half are abolitionists. But the woman, Harriet Tubman, remains calm among the frenzy.

Instead of joining in with a shouting and abuse, she watches the courthouse door patiently.

Harriet is waiting for a man named Charles Noll.

Born on a plantation in Virginia, Charles escaped slavery two years ago and traveled north.

In the past, enslaved men and women who managed to cross into northern

states were considered free, but thanks to the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, now all escapees

are considered outlaws for life and northern states are obligated to return

them to their enslavers.

This is what is about to happen to Charles Noll unless Harriet can stop it.

The courthouse doors open and Charles appears.

He's handcuffed and limp, held between two stern police officers.

Immediately the crowd surges forward.

The police officers strike out with their batons,

forcing the crowd back.

Then they muscle Charles down the stairs toward a carriage waiting to carry him back to Virginia.

But as the officers pass Harriet, she makes her move.

In a flash, she launches herself at one of the officers, sending him tumbling down the steps.

...