The Underground Railroad: A Reference Guide [Hardcover]

Full of true stories more dramatic than any fiction,The Underground Railroad: A Reference Guideoffers a fresh, revealing look at the efforts of hundreds of dedicated personswhite and black, men and women, from all walks of lifeto help slave fugitives find freedom in the decades leading up to the Civil War.

The Underground Railroadprovides 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 freedomincluding Eliza Harris and Josiah Henson, the real-life Eliza and Uncle Tom from Harriet Beecher Stowe'sUncle Tom's Cabin.

As an explanatory text that describes the Underground Railroad, Walters does an excellent job, creating a flowing and well-written narrative. In reference aspects, it provides a basis for study. ARBA

This is a moving and, at times, wrenching account of the trials and tribulations of slaves escaping along the Underground Railroad. . . . This book tells the history of this organization in a highly readable l5