I also love that he brings much-needed attention to other African Americans besides the names everyone knows, like Harriet Tubman, who worked so hard to help slaves gain their freedom. The author, also a noted illustrator, used his warm illustrations and variations in font to help tell the story.Įvaluation: This inspiring history for ages 6 and up shows how one person, starting in the worst of circumstances, can work hard and make a difference. “William Still’s records, and the stories he preserved, reunited families torn apart by slavery.”īack matter includes a timeline, an author’s note about the book’s inspiration, and a bibliography. (Photographs of pages from Still’s journal are shown on the front endpapers, with transcriptions of them featured on the back endpapers.) Tate writes: William wondered, could other people’s stories help reunite families torn apart by slavery? He started to record every detail escaped slaves could provide to him, and in 1872 published The Underground Rail Road, a collection of those stories from his journals. One evening a “passenger” arrived at his office – an elderly man – and it turned out to be his long-lost older brother Peter. All the time he dreams about freedom, but that dream seems farther away than ever when he is torn from his family and put to work in a warehouse. Nobody keeps records of slaves' birthdays. William sought out travelers on the “Underground Railroad” – i.e., escaped slaves from the South, and welcomed them into his home, which became a “station” on the Underground Railroad. 2008 Caldecott Honor BookHenry Brown doesn't know how old he is. Growing up, he got a job in Philadelphia, at the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society, eventually working his way up to manager. The author writes, “The experience defined the rest of his life.” When William was eight, he helped an escaped slave get to safety William knew every corner of the woods. They started a new life in New Jersey, eventually having fifteen children. His mother escaped along with their two girls, leaving their two boys behind.
His father purchased his freedom and went North. William’s parents were originally enslaved in Maryland. She became a conductor on the Underground Railroad. This is a wonderful story about a little-known Black man born into freedom in 1821 who grew up determined to help enslaved blacks escape to the North. She was an amazingly brave woman who spent most of her adult years helping other slaves escape to freedom.
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