Fort Mose - America's First Free Black Settlement
Long before the Underground Railroad ran north toward Canada, there was a trail that ran south into the salt marshes of Northeast Florida. The destination was Gracia Real de Santa Teresa de Mose (known simply as Fort Mose), just North of St. Augustine, established in 1738 as the first legally sanctioned, free Black community in what is now the United States. Rather than following the North Star toward Canada, these early freedom seekers looked to the Southern horizon, where the Spanish flag offered a legal sanctuary that did not exist anywhere else on the North American continent. Escaping from British plantations in the Carolinas and, after 1733, the newly established colony of Georgia meant venturing into an incredibly hostile wilderness. The route spanned over 300 miles of undeveloped frontier. The journey began by slipping away into the dense, muddy cypress swamps of South Carolina. These areas were easy to get lost in, filled with venomous snakes, and physically exhausting to tra...