Before highways and GPS, America's most extraordinary journeys were made on foot, under the cover of darkness, and without a map by the 100,000 to 150,000 enslaved people who self-emancipated before the Civil War. At the center is Charles Ball, whose harrowing odyssey included escaping bondage twice and journeying hundreds of miles through hostile territory to reclaim his life.

This course follows those courageous paths to freedom through the story of Harriet Jacobs and others, exploring the dangers they faced and the remarkable determination that made self-emancipation America's original and most consequential road trip.