James Anthony Tyler

James Anthony Tyler's play, HAN’T GOT NO SELF: A STORY INSPIRED BY SHADRACH, is inspired by the first successful arrest of a fugitive slave under the new law in Boston. Shadrach Minkins was born a slave in Norfolk, Virginia. In May 1850, he escaped servitude and went to Boston to live freely. On February 15, 1851, assistant deputy marshals took hold of Shadrach Minkins in the hallway outside the coffee room and proceeded to take him to the courthouse, only a block away. But he was able to escape with the help of Boston’s Black community and white abolitionists.