"The Rescue-of-Charlotta-Gordon-Pyles and her-Twelve-Children"

She was in Bardstown Kentucky.She and her twelve children were

enslaved by Hugh & Sarah Gordon.When the slaver,Hugh,died in 1834,
he left Charlotta and some of her children  to his only, daughter, Frances,with the expectation that she would  give them their freedom

Under the laws of the day,the children's legal  status was the same as
the mama's,so the Pyles' children were all enslaved.

In spite of the unambiguous wishes of  their daddy,Frances' brothere were not of the same mind about freeing Charlotta and  her children.

In 1853 Frances' brothers,kidnapped one of  Charlotta's sons, Benjamin,and took him to Mississippi.This act convinced Frances that she would have to leave Kentucky and head north in order to free Charlotta and her children. 

When the brothers learned of her plans,they sued Frances,claiming that
she was competent to manage her own affairs.Frances stood firm,and argued in a Kentucky court that as the legal owner of Charlotta and her children,she was allowed  to move the enslaved family wherever she pleased.

She won the case.

A month later her brothers (and a few other  relatives) sued Frances again.

This time,the sheriff arrested Charlotta arrested and  her children and hauled them to jail.

Frances followed them  it took her  two days  to get  them released,plus
she was given a bill for $51.35 for the  sheriffs expenses.

The case against Frances was thrown out in March  1854 she and  Charlotta's family were long  gone by  then.

Fearing that her brothers might try  to kidnap  other members Charlotta's family,Frances,then 80 loaded  the family-Harry,Charlotta,11 of  her 12 children,and 5 grandchildren-and their supplies into a prairie schooner.

The route through Missouri,a slave state,was fraught and unfamiliar,so,
 for $100 fee (nearly $3,000 in 2013 dollars),they hired Nat Stone in St.
Louis to guide them across the terrain.After they were well  on their way,Nat decided  that his service were worth more than his initial quote,so he  asked for another $50; in return for the extra money he promised  that  wouldn't  turn the family over to slave traders in Missouri.

They arrived  safely.

Two sons-in-law were still enslaved in the south; if they were to join the family and find work,the family just might make it.Charlotta contacted their owners and learned that she  could purchase their freedom for  $1,500 each,an enormous of  money at that time (equivalent to nearly $40,000 today).

Charlotta embarked  on a speaking tour around  the East Coast to raise
the needed $3,000.In Churches,private homes,and public halls like
Independence Hall in Philadelphia she preached about the evils of slavery.Along the way,she befriended Susan B.Anthony and  Frederick
Douglass.In six months she raised the $3.000 and bought freedom for the two men.

Charlotta and Harry were finally legally married on April 2,1857,in Keokuk Iowa and,with most of the family back together and their finances more stable,Charlotta offered her home as shelter to enslaved
African-Americans escaping on the Underground Railroad to Canada.

The first school for African-Americans in Keokuk was built in 1869,it was meant mostly for primary  school aged children.

When Charlotta's daughter,Charlotta Smith,tried  to enroll her son, Geroid, in the all-white public high school,officials refused to admit.
Charlotta and other African-American families field a lawsuit against the school and,in 1875,the Iowa Supreme Court ruled  in their favor,ordering all state's integrated.School officials in Keokuk didn't fight the decision,and  began enrolling African-American students in 1876.