Laura Smith Haviland. Quaker, Pacifist, Abolitionist, Feminist, Suffragist.

In 1832, after moving to Michigan Territory from western New York, Laura helped organize the Logan Female Anti-Slavery Society, the first anti-slavery organization in Michigan. In 1837, she and her husband Charles founded the first racially integrated school in Michigan.

“The Haviland farm became Michigan’s first Underground Railroad station. Laura personally escorted escaped slaves into Canada. She also made trips into the deep South and attempted to liberate the children of fugitive slaves. A bounty of $3,000 was placed on her head, dead or alive, by a Tennessee slave-owner. The town of Haviland, Kansas is named in her honor. Laura Smith Haviland died in 1898, at the age of 89.” You can read more about Laura Smith Haviland here.