North Star to Freedom: The Story of the Underground Railroad - Hardcover

Gorrell, Gena K.

3.94

33 ratings by Goodreads

9780773729889: North Star to Freedom: The Story of the Underground Railroad

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0773729887 ISBN 13: 9780773729889

Publisher: Fitzhenry & Whiteside Ltd, 1996

View all copies of this ISBN edition:

Imagine escaping from the terrors of plantation slavery, only to live for years in a swamp full of biting insects and deadly snakes. Picture yourself making a dangerous journey to freedom, guided by nothing but courage and the North Star. Think of beginning a new life in a new country, only to fall prey to bounty hunters.

The stories of the people who made up the Underground Railroad, that amazing network of quiet farm houses, peaceful country lanes, and busy city streets that reached from the slave-owning areas of the southern United States to the free states of the north and on to Canada, are among the most moving in our history.

Meet some of the men and women who planned daring and ingenious ways to escape slavery, such as the resourceful Henry "Box" Brown, who mailed himself to Philadelphia_s Anti-Slavery Society in a box, and the strong-willed Harriet Tubman, who fled with nothing more than a scrap of bread and the clothes on her back, and then returned to the south year after year to help others find their way to freedom.

North Star to Freedom draws on the stories of the Underground Railroad_s courageous "passengers," whose extraordinary spirit broke their own chains, and the brave "conductors," who risked their lives to help others simply because they believed that every person had the right to live free. More than just a book about the worst injustices of slavery, North Star to Freedom is ultimately about resourcefulness, compassion, and hope.

Period posters, photographs, and paintings help to make North Star to Freedom a living history for readers of all ages.

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

From the Publisher:

"...Clearly written and will be useful both as an introduction to the subject and as a supplement to other titles about the period already on the shelves."
--School Library Journal, starred review

"This is a compassionate and clear-eyed history of slavery and the brave people who rose up against it...an indispensable and inspirational tool in any classroom."
--Kirkus, pointer review

From the Inside Flap:

s of slaves--whose exact number will never be known--the North Star marked the way to freedom on the Underground Railroad. The stories of the brave "passengers" on the escape route whose extraordinary fortitude broke their own chains, and of the "conductors" who risked their lives to help others, are a testament to the human spirit.

In this fascinating and thorough account, Gena K. Gorrell movingly describes the history of the Underground Railroad, from the origins of slavery through the Civil War and beyond. She depicts the passage from Africa on desperately crowded slave ships, the station-by-station development of the powerful Railroad routes to the northern United States and Canada, and the immense challenges runaways faced once they reached freedom. Throughout the narrative, Gorrell highlights the pivotal roles played by various people of the era, those who became famous and those who remain too little known.

The immed

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.