According to Jesse Olsavsky, vigilance committees in Philadelphia, Boston, and other northern cities constituted the militant, highly organized urban wing of the Underground Railroad. According to Olsavsky, the interviews conducted by vigilance committee members with runaways acted as crucial conduits for information, ideas, and strategies for resistance. (Encore presentation.)
Jesse Olsavsky, The Most Absolute Abolition: Runaways, Vigilance Committees, and the Rise of Revolutionary Abolitionism, 1835–1861 LSU Press, 2022