Includes bibliographical references (pages 237-293) and index.
Contents:
Introduction: The reverse Underground Railroad -- Sanctuary city -- Black hearts -- Midnight land -- In-laws and outlaws -- The beaten way -- The body in the wagon -- The halfway house -- The lifeboat -- A living witness -- Hunting wolves -- Kidnappers all -- Conclusion: The first law of nature.
Summary:
Philadelphia, 1825. Five young, free black boys are lured onto a small ship with the promise of food and pay. They are instead met with blindfolds, ropes, and knives. Over four long months, their kidnappers drive them overland into the Cotton Kingdom to be sold as slaves. Determined to resist, the boys form a tight brotherhood as they struggle to free themselves and find their way home. Their ordeal shines a spotlight on the Reverse Underground Railroad, a black market network of human traffickers and slave traders who stole away thousands of legally free African Americans from their families in order to fuel slavery's rapid expansion in the decades before the Civil War. -- adapted from jacket
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.