The Underground Railroad: A Comprehensive Reference Guide to Historic Events in America | Perfect for History Students, Researchers & Educators
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Product 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.
Customer Reviews
This is a brief but rather good consideration of the various routes, colluding persons and groups, and legend that falls under the heading of the Underground Railroad. It has an annotated bibliography that some readers may find useful. It includes appendixes of bios of significant actors, some documents (some legislation, some descriptions of former slaves about their escape).Walters estimates that in the several decades before the Civil War, maybe 30,000 slaves escaped, in total.This is an overview, not a detailed history. It is a highly readable book. Given students' allergies to history, I don't know if this book would work in the classroom, but it might, since it's a lively account. There are still a lot of dates, details and places, which might defeat a student.
