Author: Charles L. Blockson Publisher: New York : Hippocrene Books ISBN: Category : History Languages : en Pages : 392
Book Description
"They were often running with nothing to call their own and a price on their heads to a place in the North known only as the "promised land"; they were dependent upon the kindness and trust of strangers known only for a fleeting moment - strangers who might warm them, feed them, clothe and shelter them for a night then shuttle the fugitive slaves on to the next "station."" "Though many slaves were American born, African-Americans were denied the right to freedom. Their struggle to gain that freedom has been traced back to 1786 and a fugitive slave owned by George Washington. The Underground Railroad could only save few from shackles until the end of the Civil War in 1865." "Pursuit began in the south, but few people know that slave hunters, after the passage of the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850, were allowed to capture their bounty in northern "free" states, where slaves were still considered property that would be forcibly returned to southern owners. This book chronicles not only the paths that were taken by fugitive slaves, but the land and the people that were the answers to many prayers for deliverance. Within the homes of Underground Railroad conductors there were false walls, cellars and attics, tunnels and stairways to confuse fugitive slave hunters. Often barns or even the heavy brush of a swamp could conceal a fugitive. Due to the very nature of the covert operation that was the Underground Railroad, the names of the people who hid fugitives, and many of these hiding places, have been kept a precious secret. While a few American communities were tolerant of the Underground Railroad, many more were less so. For some conductors who were caught, the penalty for aiding a fugitive slave included hanging; for others it meant the ruin of their livelihood or their community standing."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Author: James A. McGowan Publisher: McFarland ISBN: 1476621640 Category : Social Science Languages : en Pages : 233
Book Description
Thomas Garrett, a Quaker from Wilmington, Delaware, had a genial disposition unless provoked to defend his strong anti-slavery beliefs. He believed strongly in the Underground Railroad and in helping slaves escape and chafed under the Quaker belief in non-violence. When he died in 1871, Wilmington's black community saluted him as "their Moses." Station Master on the Underground Railroad was an important work in antebellum reform when it was first published in 1977. Author James McGowan disputed earlier arguments that white abolitionists were unified in their opposition to slavery and that they were largely responsible for the success of the Underground Railroad while the escaped slaves were helpless and frightened passengers who took advantage of a well-organized network. The present volume has been revised (in 2005) to include new information on Garrett's relationship with Harriet Tubman and the abolitionist newspaper editor William Lloyd Garrison. Now published in paperback, the book also gives readers a new perspective on Thomas Garrett, recognizing his shortcomings as well as the uncompromising nature of his Quaker faith.
Author: Mary Ellen Snodgrass Publisher: Routledge ISBN: 1317454154 Category : Business & Economics Languages : en Pages : 1918
Book Description
The culmination of years of research in dozens of archives and libraries, this fascinating encyclopedia provides an unprecedented look at the network known as the Underground Railroad - that mysterious "system" of individuals and organizations that helped slaves escape the American South to freedom during the years before the Civil War. In operation as early as the 1500s and reaching its peak with the abolitionist movement of the antebellum period, the Underground Railroad saved countless lives and helped alter the course of American history. This is the most complete reference on the Underground Railroad ever published. It includes full coverage of the Railroad in both the United States and Canada, which was the ultimate destination of many of the escaping slaves. "The Underground Railroad: An Encyclopedia of People, Places, and Operations" explores the people, places, writings, laws, and organizations that made this network possible. More than 1,500 entries detail the families and personalities involved in the operation, and sidebars extract primary source materials for longer entries. This encyclopedia features extensive supporting materials, including maps with actual Underground Railroad escape routes, photos, a chronology, genealogies of those involved in the operation, a listing of Underground Railroad operatives by state or Canadian province, a "passenger" list of escaping slaves, and primary and secondary source bibliographies.
Author: DIANE Publishing Company Publisher: DIANE Publishing ISBN: 9780788146572 Category : Languages : en Pages : 210
Book Description
A study by the National Park Service on how to best interpret & commemorate the Underground Railroad, emphasizing the approximate routes taken by slaves escaping to freedom before the Civil War. Findings: the Underground Railroad story is nationally significant; a few elements of the story are represented in existing National Park Service units & other sites, but many important resource types are not adequately represented & protected; many sites remain that meet established criteria for designation as national historic landmarks; many sites are in imminent danger of being lost or destroyed, etc. Illustrated.
Author: Kerry Walters Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA ISBN: 1598846485 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 241
Book Description
Full of true stories more dramatic than any fiction, The Underground Railroad: A Reference Guide offers a fresh, revealing look at the efforts of hundreds of dedicated persons-white and black, men and women, from all walks of life-to help slave fugitives find freedom in the decades leading up to the Civil War. The Underground Railroad provides the richest portrayal yet of the first large scale act of interracial collaboration in the United States, mapping out the complex network of routes and safe stations that made escape from slavery in the American South possible. Kerry Walters' stirring account ranges from the earliest acts of slave resistance and the rise of the Abolitionist movement, to the establishment of clandestine "liberty lines" through the eastern and then-western regions of the Union and ultimately to Canada. Separating fact from legend, Walters draws extensively on first-person accounts of those who made the Railroad work, those who tried to stop it, and those who made the treacherous journey to freedom-including Eliza Harris and Josiah Henson, the real-life "Eliza" and "Uncle Tom" from Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin.
Author: J. Blaine Hudson Publisher: McFarland ISBN: 1476602301 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 318
Book Description
Fugitive slaves were reported in the American colonies as early as the 1640s, and escapes escalated with the growth of slavery over the next 200 years. As the number of fugitives rose, the Southern states pressed for harsher legislation to prevent escapes. The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 criminalized any assistance, active or passive, to a runaway slave--yet it only encouraged the behavior it sought to prevent. Friends of the fugitive, whose previous assistance to runaways had been somewhat haphazard, increased their efforts at organization. By the onset of the Civil War in 1861, the Underground Railroad included members, defined stops, set escape routes and a code language. From the abolitionist movement to the Zionville Baptist Missionary Church, this encyclopedia focuses on the people, ideas, events and places associated with the interrelated histories of fugitive slaves, the African American struggle for equality and the American antislavery movement. Information is drawn from primary sources such as public records, document collections, slave autobiographies and antebellum newspapers.
Author: KaaVonia Hinton Publisher: Mitchell Lane Publishers, Inc. ISBN: 1612288286 Category : Juvenile Nonfiction Languages : en Pages : 52
Book Description
No one really knows when the Underground Railroad began, but we do know this network of blacks, whites, Native Americans, and others helped thousands of escapees reach free land. Find out about the secret world of conductors, agents, and stations that helped enslaved people in North America gain freedom, from the mid 1600s through the end of the Civil War.
Author: Charles L. Blockson
Author: Charles L. Blockson
Author: James A. McGowan
Author: Mary Ellen Snodgrass
Author: DIANE Publishing Company
Author: Kerry Walters
Author: Linda Russo
Author: J. Blaine Hudson
Author: 
Author: KaaVonia Hinton