In 1834, Jermain Loguen (circa 1813-1868), a Tennessee slave (otherwise known as Jarm Logue), boldly rode out of Tennessee and slavery, and continued to ride until he reached Canada and freedom. He adopted a freeman’s name, and went on to fund his own education at Oneida Institute. Loguen ultimately surfaced as one of the most impassioned antislavery preachers and visible underground agents of the day. Loguen worked as an underground agent in Syracuse, New York, where he defiantly handed out business cards, upon which was emblazoned “Underground Railroad Agent.” Loguen and his wife received fugitives ceaselessly, at all hours of the night and day, and even while their daughter lay fatally ill. Understanding that the qualifications for successful autonomy were education and vocation, Loguen agitated for jobs for blacks. With the end of the Civil War, Loguen remobilized and traveled, establishing a school and a church wherever he could for emancipated slaves.

Source: Underground Railroad Digital Classroom: Profiles