Timothy Walker is professor of History at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, and the editor of Sailing to Freedom: Maritime Dimensions of the Underground Railroad. Published by University of Massachusetts Press, Sailing to Freedom makes the case that a high percentage of successful slave escapes were achieved by using coastal seaways - not by fleeing on land! In this conversation, Walker pushes for a more accurate telling of our Underground Railroad story, shares how K-12 educators are responding to the scholarship, and reminds us that the two most famous self-emancipators, Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman, both used waterways in their quests for freedom.
Contributors to Sailing to Freedom include David Cecelski, Elysa Engelman, Kathryn Grover, Mirelle Luecke, Megan Jeffreys, Cheryl Janifer LaRoche, Cassandra Newby-Alexander, Michael Thompason, Len Travers, and Timothy Walker
To purchase Sailing to Freedom, and to support independent booksellers, please visit our collection at bookshop.org, or visit University of Massachusetts Press at umasspress.com.
To learn about African-American mariners, check outBlack Jacks: African American Seamen in the Age of Sailby W. Jeffrey Bolster (Harvard University Press)
https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674076273
To learn more about fugitive slave newspaper ads, please visit Freedom on the Move at freedomonthemove.org
To learn about Robert Small’s incredible life and work, please read the following important article from the Smithsonian
To learn about the town of New Bedford, Massachusetts, once known as the Fugitive’s Gibraltar, please visit the New Bedford Historical Society
https://nbhistoricalsociety.org
To learn about the life and legacy of Frederick Douglass, consider the following resources:
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave written by Frederick Douglass
Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom by David W. Blight. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for History
https://bookshop.org/books/frederick-douglass-prophet-of-freedom-9781508265689/9781416590323
To learn about the life and legacy of Harriet Tubman, consider the following:
Bound for the Promised Land: Harriet Tubman: Portrait of an American Hero by Kate Clifford Larson
RECOLLECT is a production of RECOLLECT Media. To learn more about other RECOLLECT shows and events, please visit www.recollect.media.
