During the fourteen years Sydney Howard Gay edited the American Anti-Slavery Society's National Anti-Slavery Standard in New York City; he worked with some of the most important Underground agents in the eastern United States; including Thomas Garrett; William Still and James Miller McKim. Gay's closest associate was Louis Napoleon; a free black man who played a major role in the James Kirk and Lemmon cases. For more than two years; Gay kept a record of the fugitives he and Napoleon aided. These never before published records are annotated in this book. Revealing how Gay was drawn into the bitter division between Frederick Douglass and William Lloyd Garrison; the work exposes the private opinions that divided abolitionists. It describes the network of black and white men and women who were vital links in the extensive Underground Railroad; conclusively confirming a daily reality.
#4996558 in Books 2010-03-02Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 8.80 x .50 x 5.90l; .55 #File Name: 0786447338192 pages
Review
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. Interesting Accounts on the Lives of Refugees in the White North.By dwood78Recently there has been a number of books released about the Underground Railroad; how they helped slaved escaped to the North or into Canada.This paperback book; which is less than 200 pages is a very interesting page turner. After starting out with a look at slavery in Canada; which did existed; but not to the extent as it did in the 13 colonies later the US; there's accounts from those who were able to escape to the Great North; where they were guaranteed freedom by the Canadian government despite the racism that existed along its population.It's also note worth noting that many of these escapees were able to make a living on their own terms; rather than being slaves for someone else's profit like the Blackburns would later started a taxi business owned lots of property (check out "I've Got a Home in Gloryland: A Lost Tale of the Underground Railroad for more info on this couple.) After the Civil War; many of these escapees returned to the United States; only to be disappointed as they find themselves (esp. those who returned to the Deep South) living under Jim Crow laws. Yet some of the accounts include those who eventually became Canadian citizens; thus becoming permanent members of its society.This is perhaps the 3rd book I've read about the Underground Railroad runaway slaves this year. But this one's the most intimate with such wonderful individual accounts. Check it out if you're into the history of American slavery.
