| The Liberty Line: The Legend of the Underground Railroad Contributor(s): Gara, Larry (Author) |
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ISBN: 0813108640 ISBN-13: 9780813108643 Publisher: University Press of Kentucky OUR PRICE: $19.00 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: March 1996 Annotation: The underground railroad - with its mysterious signals, secret depots, abolitionist heroes, and slave-hunting villains - has become part of American mythology. But legend has distorted much of the history of this institution, which Larry Gara carefully investigates in this important study. Gara show how pre-Civil War partisan propaganda, postwar reminiscences by fame-hungry abolitionists, and oral tradition helped foster the popular belief that a powerful secret organization spirited floods of slaves away from the South. In contrast to that legend, the slaves themselves had active roles in their own escapes from slave states. They carried out their runs to the North, receiving aid only after they had reached territory where they still faced return under the Fugitive Slave Law. Thus, The Liberty Line places fugitive slaves in their rightful position: the center of their struggle for freedom. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Social Science | Ethnic Studies - African American Studies - History | United States - 19th Century |
| Dewey: 973.711 |
| LCCN: 95026336 |
| Physical Information: 0.55" H x 5.54" W x 8.51" (0.67 lbs) 216 pages |
| Themes: - Chronological Period - 19th Century - Ethnic Orientation - African American |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: " The underground railroad -- with its mysterious signals, secret depots, abolitionist heroes, and slave-hunting villains -- has become part of American mythology. But legend has distorted much of this history. Larry Gara shows how pre-Civil War partisan propanda, postwar remininscences by fame-hungry abolitionists, and oral tradition helped foster the popular belief that a powerful secret organization spirited floods of slaves away from the South. In contrast to much popular belief, however, the slaves themselves had active roles in their own escape. They carried out their runs, receiving aid only after they had reached territory where they still faced return. The Liberty Line puts slaves in their rightful position: the center of their struggle for freedom. |