Introduction: The Fugitive Slave Issue on the Edge of Freedom -- South Central Pennsylvania, Fugitive Slaves, and the Underground Railroad -- Thaddeus Stevens' Dilemma, Colonization, and the Turbulent Years of Early Antislavery in Adams County, 1835-39 -- Antislavery Petitioning in South Central Pennsylvania -- The Fugitive Slave Issue on Trial : The 1840s in South Central Pennsylvania -- Controversy and Christiana : The Fugitive Slave Issue in South Central Pennsylvania, 1850-51 -- Interlude: Kidnapping, Kansas, and the Rise of Race-Based Partisanship : The decline of the Fugitive Slave Issue in South Central Pennsylvania, 1852-57 -- Revival of the Fugitive Slave Issue, 1858-61 -- Contrabands, "White Victories," and the Ultimate Slave Hunt : Recasting the Fugitive Slave Issue in Civil War South Central Pennsylvania -- After the Shooting : South Central Pennsylvania after the Civil War -- Conclusion: The Postwar Ramifications of the Fugitive Slave Issue "On the Edge of Freedom" -- Appendix A: Selected Fugitive Slave Advertisements, 1818-28 -- Appendix B: 1828 South Central Pennsylvania Petition Opposing Slavery in the District of Columbia -- Appendix C: 1847 Gettysburg African American Petition -- Appendix D: 1846 Adams County Petition -- Appendix E: 1861 Franklin County Pro-Colonization Petition -- Appendix F: 1861 Adams County Pro-Colonization Petition -- Appendix G: [Second] 1861 Adams County Pro-Colonization Petition -- Appendix H: 1861 Doylestown, Bucks County Pro-Colonization Petition -- Appendix I: 1861 Newtown, Bucks County Pro-Personal Liberty Law Petition.
''Child Heroes of the Underground Railroad illuminates the vital contributions of specific, underappreciated child activists within the extremely local circumstances of their daily work. It also provides meaningful context to the actions of these young activists within the much broader social practice of resisting slavery, and offers fresh insight into the complicated question of who was responsible for ending slavery. Through a thorough examination of these subjects, author Jonathan Shectman proves his central thesis: in many specific cases, children were the essential lifeblood of the Underground Railroad's operational workforce." ( amazon.com )
Includes bibliographical references (p. 201-208) and index.
Contents
The dictates of humanity -- Knowledge unfits a child to be a slave -- Ran away from the subscriber -- Tell them I love them all -- Let not the sun go down on your anger, my boy -- Up like bucks: the Rankin boys -- States of matter divide the states -- Deeds of bold daring -- Many years under the yoke -- The conductor was, himself, presently enslaved.
Part I. Radical, young, and quaker: child pioneers of the underground -- Part II. Up like bucks: the line through Ripley -- Part III. Taking their freedom: young free blacks and fugitive children.
