John Malveaux of
writes:
William Still and Underground Railroad
John Malveaux
Underground Railroad - The William Still Story
"It was my good fortune to lend a helping hand to the weary travelers flying from the land of bondage."
~ William Still
William
Still was just a boy when he helped the first one escape. He never
knew the man's name; only that he was being hunted by slave catchers.
But in the years ahead, there would be many hundreds more. And Still vowed their stories would never be forgotten.
"The
heroism and desperate struggle that many of our people had to endure
should be kept green in the memory of this and coming generations."
And he kept his promise. His diaries tell the stories of the great slave exodus known as the Underground Railroad.
Impossible escapes . . . heart-breaking separations . . . and families re-united.
Underground Railroad: The William Still Story
tells the dramatic story of William Still, one of the most important
yet largely unheralded individuals of the Underground Railroad. Still
was determined to get as many runaways as he could to "Freedom’s Land,”
smuggling them across the US border to Canada. Bounty hunters could
legally abduct former slaves living in the so-called free northern
states, but under the protection of the British, Canada provided
sanctuary for fugitive slaves.
William Still was a humble
Philadelphia clerk who risked his life shepherding runaway slaves to
freedom in the tumultuous years leading up to America’s Civil War.
Still was the director of a complex network of abolitionists,
sympathizers and safe houses that stretched from Philadelphia to what is
now Southern Ontario. In his fourteen years in the service of the
Underground Railroad, he helped nearly eight hundred former slaves to
escape.
Still kept meticulous records of the many escapes slaves
who passed through the Philadelphia "station." After the Civil War,
Still published the secret notes he’d kept in diaries during those
years. And to this day, his book contains some of the best evidence we
have of the workings of the Underground Railroad, detailing the freedom
seekers who used it, including where they came from, how they escaped
and the families they left behind.
Underground Railroad: The William Still Story premiered February 6, 2012.
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