Pathways to Freedom Project

Martin Jackson and son Ben 1913 - Courtesy Linda McDonald Witt

Martin Jackson and son Ben 1913 - courtesy Linda McDonald Witt

Pathways to Freedom project introduction

While most clandestine pathways of the Underground Railroad led through the northern United Stated into Canada, freedom seekers and freed persons of color also followed southerly routes through Texas and into Mexico. Lured by the fact that slavery was fully abolished in Mexico by 1837, some enslaved people achieved freedom by navigating through Texas and crossing the Rio Grande. In the decade preceding the US Civil War, the polarization of the American public over the institution of slavery sparked much tension, greatly impacting both the enslaved and free people of color. With the re-enactment of the Fugitive Slave Act in 1850, the Dred Scott Decision of 1857, and anti-miscegenation laws, families of mixed races felt the crescendo of animosity and hate throughout the southern states. Prior to the outbreak of the American Civil War, these families packed their belongings and made their way to a place where they could settle in peace. By crossing the treacherous “Nueces Strip,” a 150-mile arid and dangerous expanse between Corpus Christi and Brownsville, avoiding slave catchers and bounty hunters, several freedom seekers successfully slipped across the border to freedom in Mexico where they settled in small colonies, learned to speak Spanish, and struggled to earn a modest living.

This project examines the pathways freedom seekers traveled throughout south Texas in efforts to cross the international boundary to achieve freedom in Mexico.

Finding Matilda Hicks presentation May 6, 2023

The CHAPS Program sponsored a research trip to Georgia and Alabama in August of 2022 to search for the origins of the Nathaniel Jackson and a family slave named Matilda Hicks. A presentation was given to family, friends, and interested historians at the Jackson Ranch Church on Saturday, May 6, 2023. The report attached here includes the results of the research trip, along with technological surveys of the Jackson Ranch Church property along the US-Mexico border in San Juan, Texas. TEKS-aligned lesson plans developed by regional teachers are also included in this report.