300 Miles to Freedom (2011)

• 81%
• 2011
• Documentary
• Richard Breyer
• Anand Kamalakar

Filmmakers Richard Breyer and Anand Kamalakar take viewers on an incredible journey through the American Underground Railroad in this documentary tracing the story of fugitive slave John W. Jones - a man who rejected bondage in the face of death, and subsequently devoted his life to helping former slaves escape to the North. In June of 1844, Jones and four others fled Leesburg, Virginia. Utilizing the Underground Railroad, they ultimately arrived in Elmira, New York. At the time, Jones was 27-years-old, broke, and illiterate. Over the course of the next five decades, he helped hundreds of other fugitive slaves escape from the South through the Underground Railroad. This is the story of a man who valued freedom over all else, and devoted his life to helping others find that freedom as well.