The Underground Railroad in Floyd County, Indiana

Rating:
Summary: The Underground Railroad Unmasked
Review: Armed guards are stationed at ferry terminals on both shores of the wide river, carefully inspecting the travel documents of selected persons, insensitive to the fear and humiliation they inflict on these targets of their scrutiny. A scenario from a modern totalitarian government in the years just prior to the fall of Communism in Europe? Hardly. The ferry terminals are in Louisville, Kentucky and New Albany, Indiana, and the time frame is just prior to and including the American Civil War. With honesty, precision and determination, Pamela Peters presents her readers with a glimpse of what it must have been like to be a slave in a Southern state who had the hope of freedom and the means to attain it: The Underground Railroad

Peters paints a brutally frank picture of the stark realities that faced slaves who attempted to cross the Ohio River into a "free" state like Indiana. Degradation and vilification did not cease on the other shore. Humiliating legislation denied both runaways and free blacks the rights and privileges enjoyed by the white majority, forced them to live in isolated designated areas, required them to register as aliens and even to pay a bond against the likelihood that they might lack gainful employment. She makes it quite clear that crossing over into "free" territory could not be the final goal for runaway slaves. For complete security, the destination had to be Canada, since federal law permitted owners of escaped slaves to arrest and detain them anywhere in the United States.

With painstaking precision, the author documents her findings. She employs every available resource, from gravestones to courthouse records to personal interviews with descendents. In addition to correcting the mistaken popular view that there was freedom and security for runaways in the North, Peters also demonstrates the complicity of most of the mainstream churches in the odious institution that was slavery. As if that were not enough, perhaps one of her most significant contributions is the clear and compelling evidence that the Underground Railroad's conductors were not mostly well-intentioned white folks. Rather, those who risked so much to bring freedom to others in this unique clandestine network were free and recently-freed African-Americans , as well as other runaway slaves. After Pamela Peters, the popular textbook version of the Underground Railroad's conductors being principled, church-going white people is no longer tenable.

Rating:
Summary: The Underground Railroad in Floyd County, Indiana
Review: Having been born in Floyd County, Indiana, I often wondered what role Indiana, being a border state, played
during the unfortunate period of civil war in America. This
treatise so eloquently presented, answered many of the questions I often asked myself before I was able to sink deeply into this discourse. Thank you Pam Peters, for I now know many of my ancestors aligned themselves with good and fought diligently on the side of freedom and against the evils of human bondage. And, were able to accomplish much, despite the transgressions and oppression that were visited upon them.

Rating:
Summary: The Underground Railroad in Floyd County, Indiana
Review: Having been born in Floyd County, Indiana, I often wondered what role Indiana, being a border state, played
during the unfortunate period of civil war in America. This
treatise so eloquently presented, answered many of the questions I often asked myself before I was able to sink deeply into this discourse. Thank you Pam Peters, for I now know many of my ancestors aligned themselves with good and fought diligently on the side of freedom and against the evils of human bondage. And, were able to accomplish much, despite the transgressions and oppression that were visited upon them.

Rating:
Summary: A Ground-Breaking Work on Underground RR Discoveries
Review: This book contains extensive and thorough research to back up and debunk certain claims about the Underground Railroad in Indiana. This is a fascinating look at what happened right along the border of the North and the South. The author does a good job of revealing the truths often imbedded in the legends regarding the Underground Railroad.