author
Marion Gleason McDougall
Best known for a deeply researched 1891 study of fugitive-slave law, this early woman scholar traced how legislation and court cases shaped the pursuit of freedom in the United States. Her work still stands out for its careful use of historical sources and its clear sense of the human stakes behind legal history.
1 Audiobook
Fugitive Slaves (1619-1865)
by Marion Gleason McDougall
About the author
Marion Gleason McDougall was an American writer and researcher best known for Fugitive Slaves (1619-1865), published in 1891. In the book’s prefatory material, she explains that the study grew out of her work as a student at the Harvard Annex, later known as Radcliffe, and that it was prepared under the direction of historian Albert Bushnell Hart.
Her book brings together colonial laws, congressional action, and court cases involving people who escaped slavery, with the aim of tracing how public feeling and legal policy developed over time. Rather than treating the subject only in the abstract, she assembled examples from many scattered sources, giving readers a broad view of how the law affected real lives.
Biographical details about McDougall are scarce in the sources readily available online. A memorial record identifies her as Marion Harwood Gleason McDougall, born in Massachusetts in 1867 and deceased in 1934. No suitable verified portrait was found from the sources reviewed.