On the Edge of Freedom:The Fugitive Slave Issue in South Central Pennsylvania, 1820-1870
Title | On the Edge of Freedom:The Fugitive Slave Issue in South Central Pennsylvania, 1820-1870 PDF eBook |
Author | David G. Smith |
Publisher | Fordham Univ Press |
Total Pages | 345 |
Release | 2013 |
Genre | History |
ISBN | 0823240320 |
"David Smith's On The Edge of Freedom is the most nuanced, detailed and sophisticated study of the Underground Railroad in rural Pennsylvania that I have ever read. Based on a wide variety of primary sources, this study offers a series of fresh insights about how the fugitive crisis along the Mason-Dixon Line directly impacted the wider national struggle over slavery and union." -- Matthew Pinkser, Dickinson College. David G. Smith has delivered a revelatory portrait of one of the most important political battlegrounds of antebellum America, where networks of fugitive slaves, slave-catchers, informers, and Underground Railroad activists lived side by side in a tangled web. He sheds much new light on the struggle of the abolitionism to take route in southern Pennsylvania's difficult soil, and challenges cherished preconceptions of the North as solidly anti-slavery and friendly to fugitive slaves. In the process, he has given us a deeper understanding of the daunting moral complexities of life in the pre-Civil War borderland. This is a book to be reckoned with."-Fergus M. Bordewich, author of America"s Great debate: Henry Clay, Stephen A. Douglas, and the Compromise that Preserved the Union. In this well wrought and powerful narrative, Smith examines the vital borderland of south central Pennsylvania. Challenging scholars to re-think our understanding of the fugitive slave law, Smith examines that issue through white and black perspectives over nearly fifty years of sectional conflict, war, and reconstruction. This is an important contribution to our understanding of how war itself intensified the fugitive slave issue and redirected it. Smith's thorough appendices demonstrate remarkable and comprehensive research reflected in this important narrative."-Orville Vernon Burton, author of The Age of Lincoln.
No Safe Harbor (Edge of Freedom Book #1)
Title | No Safe Harbor (Edge of Freedom Book #1) PDF eBook |
Author | Elizabeth Ludwig |
Publisher | Baker Books |
Total Pages | 318 |
Release | 2012-10-01 |
Genre | Fiction |
ISBN | 1441260455 |
The Thrill of Romantic Suspense Meets the Romance of 1800s America Lured by a handful of scribbled words across a faded letter, Cara Hamilton sets off from 1896 Ireland on a quest to find the brother she'd thought dead. Her search lands her in America, amidst a houseful of strangers and one man who claims to be a friend--Rourke Walsh. Despite her brother's warning, Cara decides to trust Rourke and reveals the truth about her purpose in America. But he is not who he claims to be, and as rumors begin to circulate about an underground group of dangerous revolutionaries, Cara's desperation grows. Her questions lead her ever closer to her brother, but they also bring her closer to destruction as Rourke's true intentions come to light.
Dark Road Home (Edge of Freedom Book #2)
Title | Dark Road Home (Edge of Freedom Book #2) PDF eBook |
Author | Elizabeth Ludwig |
Publisher | Baker Books |
Total Pages | 334 |
Release | 2013-08-01 |
Genre | Fiction |
ISBN | 1441261486 |
Romance and Suspense Burn on Every Page of Ludwig's Latest Ana Kavanagh's only memories of home are of fire and pain. As a girl she was the only survivor of a terrible blaze, and years later she still struggles with her anger at God for letting it happen. At a nearby parish she meets and finds a kindred spirit in Eoghan Hamilton, who is struggling with his own anger--his sister, Cara, betrayed him by falling in love with one of his enemies. Cast aside by everyone, Eoghan longs to rejoin the Fenians, a shadowy organization pushing for change back in Ireland. But gaining their trust requires doing some favors--all of which seem to lead back to Ana. Who is she and who is searching for her? As dark secrets from Ana's past begin to come to light, Eoghan must choose which road to follow--and where to finally place his trust.
Standing at the Edge
Title | Standing at the Edge PDF eBook |
Author | Joan Halifax |
Publisher | |
Total Pages | 301 |
Release | 2018-05 |
Genre | Philosophy |
ISBN | 1250101344 |
"[This book is] an ... examination of how we can respond to suffering, live our fullest lives, and remain open to the full spectrum of our human experience"--Amazon.com.
The Edge of Freedom
Title | The Edge of Freedom PDF eBook |
Author | John Willingham |
Publisher | |
Total Pages | 0 |
Release | 2011-01-31 |
Genre | Goliad Massacre, Goliad, Tex., 1836 |
ISBN | 9781592994465 |
The Alamo resounds in memory and myth...Goliad whispers from the shadows. Along with the familiar stories of Jim Bowie, David Crockett, and William B. Travis-the heroes of the Alamo-it is time, in the 175th anniversary year of the Revolution, to understand the more complex stories of James W. Fannin and his Mexican counterpart, Jose de Urrea. In The Edge of Freedom, these and other historical figures show that the search for peace at Goliad was as dramatic as the fight for glory at the Alamo.
On the Edge of Freedom
Title | On the Edge of Freedom PDF eBook |
Author | David G. Smith |
Publisher | Fordham University Press |
Total Pages | 344 |
Release | 2014-12-15 |
Genre | History |
ISBN | 0823263975 |
In On the Edge of Freedom, David G. Smith breaks new ground by illuminating the unique development of antislavery sentiment in south central Pennsylvania—a border region of a border state with a complicated history of slavery, antislavery activism, and unequal freedom. During the antebellum decades every single fugitive slave escaping by land east of the Appalachian Mountains had to pass through the region, where they faced both significant opportunities and substantial risks. While the hundreds of fugitives traveling through south central Pennsylvania (defined as Adams, Franklin, and Cumberland counties) during this period were aided by an effective Underground Railroad, they also faced slave catchers and informers. “Underground” work such as helping fugitive slaves appealed to border antislavery activists who shied away from agitating for immediate abolition in a region with social, economic, and kinship ties to the South. And, as early antislavery protests met fierce resistance, area activists adopted a less confrontational approach, employing the more traditional political tools of the petition and legal action. Smith traces the victories of antislavery activists in south central Pennsylvania, including the achievement of a strong personal liberty law and the aggressive prosecution of kidnappers who seized innocent African Americans as fugitives. He also documents how their success provoked Southern retaliation and the passage of a strengthened Fugitive Slave Law in 1850. The Civil War then intensified the debate over fugitive slaves, as hundreds of escaping slaves, called “contrabands,” sought safety in the area, and scores were recaptured by the Confederate army during the Gettysburg campaign. On the Edge of Freedom explores in captivating detail the fugitive slave issue through fifty years of sectional conflict, war, and reconstruction in south central Pennsylvania and provocatively questions what was gained by the activists’ pragmatic approach of emphasizing fugitive slaves over immediate abolition and full equality. Smith argues that after the war, social and demographic changes in southern Pennsylvania worked against African Americans’ achieving equal opportunity, and although local literature portrayed this area as a vanguard of the Underground Railroad, African Americans still lived “on the edge of freedom.” By the 1920s, the Ku Klux Klan was rallying near the Gettysburg battlefield, and south central Pennsylvania became, in some ways, as segregated as the Jim Crow South. The fugitive slave issue, by reinforcing images of dependency, may have actually worked against the achievement of lasting social change.
Falling Into Freedom
Title | Falling Into Freedom PDF eBook |
Author | Michael Doud |
Publisher | |
Total Pages | 258 |
Release | 2018-07-25 |
Genre | Body, Mind & Spirit |
ISBN | 9781732611702 |
In the winter of 1989, on a windy cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean, it hit me. I was deeply unhappy and had been for my entire 38 years. Looking down at the churning sea, I considered ending my life right there. My only other option was to change it, completely. Falling Into Freedom is the story of the crazy adventures that began after I stepped back from the cliff and set out in search of the wisdom that would set me free. My first act after I chose life over death was to throw away my old life. Downsized out of my job, I quit looking for a new one; sold my home; and lived for a time in my car. Freed from physical distractions, I reflected on my strict upbringing by salt-of-the-earth parents; my flirtation with academic disaster in high school; my impulsive decision to escape my perceived worthless life by joining the Army; my devastation after killing human beings in Vietnam; my fall into drug addiction to numb my pain, and the agony of going cold-turkey in a little hut assisted by a wise old woman. My search began by participating and leading personal growth seminars testing my relationship to fear. One exercise was a hands-free escape after being pinned down by a five-foot bamboo pole pressed across my neck by two strong men. Witnessing my will to live, I journeyed into an obscure bookstore and found books that taught me about how to look inwards for more answers. With this gained wisdom and a daily meditation practice, I learned how to forgive myself for killing; to not identify "self" through physical and mental attributes; to understand my attachment to possessions and personal identifiers like a job title; to let go of my attachments and aversions to everything; and to accept life as it is, not as I interpret it to be. The journey leads to an old monastery in England. There, three months of sitting in silence allowed me to lift the veil of illusion and see the world, and life, as it is.