Richard Bell, "Stolen"

Published: Feb. 17, 2020, 2:50 p.m.

How could five boys, walking free in Philadelphia in the summer of 1825, be kidnapped, forced into the hold of a boat, chained and beaten, brought to the Eastern Shore, and then transported south? Historian Richard Bell chronicles how the boys were enslaved through the Reverse Underground Railroad. Most who were snatched never saw their families again. But something surprising happened in this case. Bell's book is "Stolen: Five Free Boys Kidnapped into Slavery and Their Astonishing Odyssey Home". Richard Bell will be speaking about the book next Thursday, February 27th at 6 pm at the Maryland Historical Society.