The dramatic story of fugitive slaves and the antislavery activists who defied the law to help them reach freedom.More than any other scholar; Eric Foner has influenced our understanding of America's history. Now; making brilliant use of extraordinary evidence; the Pulitzer Prize–winning historian once again reconfigures the national saga of American slavery and freedom.A deeply entrenched institution; slavery lived on legally and commercially even in the northern states that had abolished it after the American Revolution. Slaves could be found in the streets of New York well after abolition; traveling with owners doing business with the city's major banks; merchants; and manufacturers. New York was also home to the North’s largest free black community; making it a magnet for fugitive slaves seeking refuge. Slave catchers and gangs of kidnappers roamed the city; seizing free blacks; often children; and sending them south to slavery.To protect fugitives and fight kidnappings; the city's free blacks worked with white abolitionists to organize the New York Vigilance Committee in 1835. In the 1840s vigilance committees proliferated throughout the North and began collaborating to dispatch fugitive slaves from the upper South; Washington; and Baltimore; through Philadelphia and New York; to Albany; Syracuse; and Canada. These networks of antislavery resistance; centered on New York City; became known as the underground railroad. Forced to operate in secrecy by hostile laws; courts; and politicians; the city’s underground-railroad agents helped more than 3;000 fugitive slaves reach freedom between 1830 and 1860. Until now; their stories have remained largely unknown; their significance little understood.Building on fresh evidence―including a detailed record of slave escapes secretly kept by Sydney Howard Gay; one of the key organizers in New York―Foner elevates the underground railroad from folklore to sweeping history. The story is inspiring―full of memorable characters making their first appearance on the historical stage―and significant―the controversy over fugitive slaves inflamed the sectional crisis of the 1850s. It eventually took a civil war to destroy American slavery; but here at last is the story of the courageous effort to fight slavery by "practical abolition;" person by person; family by family. 24 pages of illustrations
#886492 in Books 2015-02-09Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 9.60 x 1.40 x 6.50l; .0 #File Name: 0393065308416 pages
Review
18 of 19 people found the following review helpful. Excellent look at the "Cult of Lincoln"By Jill MeyerThis year; 2015; is the 150th year anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's assassination. Many books have covered Lincoln's life and his death; Richard Wightman Fox's new book; "Lincoln's Body: A Cultural History"; looks at how Lincoln has fared as an historical figure since his death.Richard Fox; professor of History at the University of Southern California; begins his book with Lincoln's assassination; a well-documented story. But he concentrates both on how Lincoln perceived himself before his death and how others perceived him after. His death on April 15; 1865; unleashed mourning throughout the country. An elaborate program of his body's laying-in-state in Washington; DC; as well as in selected cities on the train trip back to Springfield; Illinois; made the nation a partner in his family's grief. He was finally laid to a somewhat unquiet rest in Springfield.In the succeeding years; monuments and statues were erected in his honor; books were written; and his legacy was being assessed. Was Abraham Lincoln an emancipator of slaves or the man who fought to hold together the Union? Or both? How would he have governed in those difficult days after the Civil War ended? Would he have welcomed the South back into the Union or would he have imposed harsh penalties? Certainly "his" Reconstruction would have been different than Andrew Johnson's.Fox's excellent book examines how the regard for Abraham Lincoln has risen and fallen and risen again in the last 150 years. Was he the saint who had lost his one chance at love with Ann Rutledge's early death or was that romantic tripe; made up to soften Lincoln's image after his death. Was he a dreamer or a realist about our country's future. Perhaps the low point of the "Cult of Lincoln" was Gore Vidal's "fictional biography"; "Lincoln"; published in the mid-1980's; where he tries to "humanize" the president.Richard Wightman Fox presents a nuanced look at the "Cult of Lincoln". His book is a very readable account of a time in America's history when our national view of a beloved figure was turned into a cultural icon.7 of 8 people found the following review helpful. Dead Man WalkingBy Christian SchlectAn uneven book in that the author drifts away at times from his "body" theme to other topics; such as with a lengthy discussion on Dr. Martin Luther King's complicated relationship with the historical Lincoln. While little is here that would be new to the many that form the Lincoln cult; I still found it to be well-written with many interesting insights.Professor Fox is strongest when he is relating the factual history of the various physical representations of Abraham Lincoln over time; since the assassination and lengthy burial ritual to the present day's movie by Steven Spielberg. For example; the materiel on the spirited debate over the proper siting of the memorial in Washington;D. C.; and then its eventual racially insensitive dedication is well done.As is not uncommon of late with Lincoln commentary; the undertone of this book is decidedly prone to view our first Republican president as someone who would be in the camp of modern day Democrats.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Five StarsBy Mark S.Great book and great sale.
