Enslaved people fled south to freedom in Spanish Florida, not only north.

Evidence

Fort Mose Tyehimba Jess They weren’t headed north to freedom— they fled away from the North Star, turned their back on the Mason-Dixon Line, put their feet to freedom by fleeing farther south to Florida. … Ran to where ’gator and viper roamed free in the mosquito swarm of Suwannee. — Nikole Hannah-Jones et al., The 1619 Project, 598

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the Underground Railroad narrative’s northward assumption, and to readings on self-emancipation (marronage) as opposed to northern-escape framing.
• SEED: Essay angle: the Underground Railroad to the north is only half the story; an underdocumented southern underground ran toward Spanish Florida, Fort Mose, and Seminole alliance.