Emboldened by the 1850 Fugitive Slave Law, Maryland slave catchers kidnapped Rachel and Elizabeth Parker from the Nottingham area in 1851. Rachel’s employer Joseph Miller was murdered in a failed attempt to rescue her from Baltimore. Public outrage led Pa. officials to seek the sisters’ release in a Md. civil court case that secured their freedom in 1853. The forcible enslavement of two young free black women galvanized antislavery sentiment.