Edmonson Sisters Mary and Emily Edmonson were among the 77 enslaved African Americans who boarded the schooner, Pearl, in 1848 intending to sail down the Potomac, then north to freedom. <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/287">Captured when the Pearl becalmed</a>, the Edmonson sisters were jailed. They awaited sale as slaves in New Orleans while their father, a freeman, worked to raise money to buy their freedom. Abolitionists, including Harriet Beecher Stowe, heard of their plight and launched a fundraising effort that lead to the sisters' emancipation. The Edmonsons later studied at Oberlin College in Ohio, and became active anti-slavery crusaders. <a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=39&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Edmonson+Sisters">Edmonson Sisters</a> Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. <a href="http://www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/cph/item/91789694/">View original image</a>. <a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=38&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=1830-1859">1830-1859</a>