In 1865, a slave and mother named Margaret Garner would become the defendant in one of the longest and most public slave trials in history.
Garner and her husband, Robert, worked as slaves all of their lives, so when the Underground Railroad presented an opportunity for escape, they gathered their four children and went to their first safehouse to await instructions for the next stop. Unfortunately, their owner, A.K. Gaines, would form a mob and find their hiding place. They busted in to reclaim their property.
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