It happened in Canada: This series on the revolutionaries, luminaries and criminals who have visited the Great White North, was originally published in 2014

It was on the spur of the moment when John Henry Hill decided to alight for freedom. In 1853, the 25-year-old Virginia slave was just about to be handcuffed and led to the auction block when he suddenly brandished a hidden knife, sent his terrified captors fleeing, and disappeared into the surrounding city.

Hill soon found himself in the care of the Underground Railroad, the secret network of safe houses ferrying escaped slaves to freedom in Canada. After a nine month odyssey, he disembarked at Toronto and took his first steps into the “Promised Land” of British North America.