Fleeing For Freedom
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Overview
Published to coincide with Black History Month and the opening of the new Underground Railroad Museum in Cincinnati, Fleeing for Freedom includes selected narratives from the two most important contemporary chroniclers of the Underground Railroad, Levi Coffin and William Still. Here are firsthand descriptions of the experiences of escaped slaves making their way to freedom in the North and in Canada in the years before the Civil War. George and Willene Hendrick have chosen a broad range of stories to reflect the strategies, tactics, heartbreak, and dangers—for both the slaves and the "conductors"—of the secret network. In their Introduction, they provide basic information about the scope and workings of the Underground Railroad and its impact on slaves, slaveholders, and the Northern abolitionist societies that were so heavily involved. Fleeing for Freedom offers gripping personal accounts of one of the great collaborations between whites and blacks in American history. With 15 black-and-white engravings and line drawings.
Synopsis
Coffin and Still were the two most important contemporary chroniclers of the network that moved escaped slaves across non-slave northern states and into the safety of Canada. The Hendricks continue their interest in slavery and 19th-century American generally by selecting stories from their work. They do not provide an index. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
Dallas Morning News
Would that we had more books like Fleeing for Freedom...bringing to life...dangers and rewards of the Liberty Line.
Editorials
Booklist
A must for African American history collections, this book provides a compelling glimpse into a noble juncture in the American experience.— Margaret Flanagan
Dallas Morning News
Would that we had more books like Fleeing for Freedom…bringing to life...dangers and rewards of the Liberty Line.Grand Forks Herald
This book offeres insight on the movement's impact on slaves, slaveholders, and the Northern aboltionist societies that were so heavily involved.— Kiley Clapper
Indiana Magazine of History
The Hendricks' introduction provides a valuable overview of the UGRR and of the lives of Coffin and Still.— Timothy Crumrin
Niagara Gazette
Includes several dramatic accounts.— Don Glynn
University Of Illinois News Bureau
The book brings together for the first time...stories from...the two major chroniclers of the Underground Railroad.Vicksburg Post
The editors...reflect the strategies, tactics, heartbreak and dangers for both the slaves and the ‘conductors’ of the fabled network.Virginia Quarterly Review
An excellent introduction to the history of the system that helped between 20,000 and 75,000 slaves.Dallas Morning News
Would that we had more books like Fleeing for Freedom...bringing to life...dangers and rewards of the Liberty Line.UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS NEWS BUREAU
The book brings together for the first time...stories from...the two major chroniclers of the Underground Railroad...KLIATT
Excerpted from the writings of Levi Coffin, a Quaker activist living in Newport, Indiana, and of William Still, a free black who headed the Vigilance Committee in antebellum Philadelphia, this book is valuable not only for its contents but also for its introduction and its bibliographical notes. The introduction by the editors summarizes the history of the Underground Railroad itself as a revolutionary activity and surveys its participants and the risks that they ran. The notes contain a rather brief but valuable annotated bibliography of the works available in recent editions. Among the stories told are the familiar ones of Ellen and William Craft, Henry "Box" Brown, and Eliza leaping from ice slab to ice slab as she crossed the Ohio. (Harriet Beecher Stowe did not imagine Eliza. She was real.) The value of the work lies in the stories that are less well-known, stories that reveal the day-to-day activities of those who worked on "the liberty line." Levi Coffin was known as "the President of the Underground Railroad." From his Reminiscences, written in 1876, come sober chronicles of runaway slaves and the efforts made to help them. Unadorned and straightforward, the tales are impressive in their manner and their message. William Still is a more fiery writer. From his 1872 The Underground Railroad come more excited but no less documented accounts of slaves who escaped through Philadelphia. Still's occasional use of heavy irony is clear in meaning to the experienced reader, but a younger student might need guidance in handling Still's tone. From Still also comes the account of a confrontation between slave catchers and runaways in Cristiana, Pennsylvania in 1851. When one of the slavecatchers is killed in the clash, the abolitionists involved are brought to trial, not for murder, but for treason! Detailed transcripts from the trial are included. Recommended as supplementary reading for all American history courses. KLIATT Codes: JSA—Recommended for junior and senior high school students, advanced students, and adults. 2004, Ivan R. Dee, 224p. illus. maps. bibliog. index., Ages 12 to adult.—Pat Moore