HIS 398: Advanced Historical Methods- The Jerry Rescue

Contains xeroxed copies of books, maps, census indexes, newspapers, etc.

This book includes an overview of the slave economy, a brief history of the Underground Railroad, and thirty-six tales about the slaves who escaped and the men and women who helped them. Four regions are discussed: the Midwestern States, the Mid-Atlantic States, the New England States, and the Finger Lakes Region. Biographical sketches are provided of six of the most influential individuals of the Underground Railroad movement. Descriptions are included of forty-one stations on eight routes through central New York State.

In Gateway to Freedom, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Eric Foner tells the story of Sydney Howard Gay, an abolitionist newspaper editor; Louis Napoleon, furniture polisher; and Charles B. Ray, a black minister. Between 1830 and 1860, with the secret help of black dockworkers, the network led by these three men helped no fewer than 3,000 fugitives to liberty. The previously unexamined records compiled by Gay offer a portrait of fugitive slaves who passed through New York City -- where they originated, how they escaped, who helped them in both North and South, and how they were forwarded to freedom in Canada.

Few things have defined America as much as slavery. In the wake of emancipation the story of the Underground Railroad has become a seemingly irresistible part of American historical consciousness. This stirring drama is one Americans have needed to tell and retell and pass on to their children. But just how much of the Underground Railroad is real, how much legend and mythology, how much invention? Passages to Freedom sets out to answer this question and place it within the context of slavery, emancipation, and its aftermath. Published on the occasion of the opening of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati, Ohio, Passages to Freedom brings home the reality of slavery's destructiveness. This distinguished yet accessible volume offers a galvanizing look at how the brave journey out of slavery both haunts and inspires us today.