Margaret Garner, an enslaved African American woman in pre-Civil War America, was born on June 4, 1834, on Maplewood Plantation in Boone County, Ky. to the owner of Maplewood, so this enslaved her from the moment she was born. When she was old enough, she became a housekeeper, serving the family and doing cleaning work. Her married master, AK (Edward) Gaines, forced her to have an affair with him. People said he was most likely the father of at least two of her children. Garner rose to fame when she and her family rebelled against slavery and bravely escaped to freedom. In the winter of 1856, she and her husband Robert, their four children, and Robert's parents carried out their bold plan. The family fled the plantation and escaped by walking across the frozen Ohio River from Covington, Ky., to Cincinnati, Ohio. They sought out their family friend, a free black man named Elijah Kite, for protection. He turned to the well-known Quaker abolitionist Levi Coffin for help. Many referred to Coffin as the president ...