In 1831, Thornton and Lucie Blackburn made a daring escape from enslavement. In 2026, the Frazier Museum brought their story back to Louisville.
The Frazier Museum’s newest exhibit “Louisville to Liberty: The Blackburns’ Journey” follows both the Blackburns and the archeology that brought them to life.
The story
When Lucie Blackburn was sold to a merchant notorious for selling enslaved women to the slave markets of New Orleans, the couple made plans to escape north.
With forged freedom papers, they made their way in broad daylight on a ferry across the Ohio River and then on a steamboat to Cincinnati. They got as far as Detroit, and stayed there for two years. However, they were discovered by slave catchers in June of 1833…