A compilation of 12 first-person accounts of the runaway slave phenomenon spanning eight decades. Told in the voices of the runaway slaves themselves, these narratives reveal the extraordinary and often innovative ways that these men and women sought freedom and demanded citizenship. Also included is an essay by UCLA history professor Brenda Stevenson that contextualizes these narratives, as well as a look into the daily life of a slave. Divided into...

Slave narratives are extremely rare, with only 55 post-Civil War narratives surviving. A mere handful are first-person accounts by slaves who ran away and freed themselves. Now two newly uncovered narratives join that exclusive group. Handed down through family and friends, they tell gripping stories of escape: Through a combination of intelligence, daring, and sheer luck, the men reached the protection of occupying Union troops. Historian Blight...

Janice, Tess, and LuAnn are struggling to turn a Ohio mansion, which had served as a stop on the Underground Railroad, into a bed and breakfast. These plans are halted when Janice discovers skeletal human remains, alongside an antique photo of a woman and child, inside the mansion.

In 1857, while working for the Underground Railroad on a Mississippi River steamboat, thirteen-year-old Libby hunts for the swindler who has robbed her father and tries to reunite the fugitive slave Jordan with his missing father.

"[This book explores] the impact fugitive slaves had on the politics of the critical decade leading up to the Civil War. Through the close reading of diverse sources ranging from government documents to personal accounts, [the author] traces the decisions of slaves to escape, the actions of those who assisted them, the many ways black communities responded to the capture of fugitive slaves, and how local laws either buttressed or undermined enforcement...

Explains the early plight of the slaves and their run for freedom during and after the Civil War.

You are a slave in the 1850's, a slave catcher hoping to get rich, or a part of the Underground Railroad, helping slaves escape to freedom. You choose which side you're on and what you do next.

Traces the story of John Rankin and the heroes of the Ripley, Ohio, line of the Underground Railroad, identifying the pre-Civil War conflicts between abolitionists and slave chasers along the Ohio River banks.