From Midnight to Dawn
The Last Tracks of the Underground Railroad
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- $14.99
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
From Midnight to Dawn presents compelling portraits of the men and women who established the Underground Railroad and traveled it to find new lives in Canada. Evoking the turmoil and controversies of the time, Tobin illuminates the historic events that forever connected American and Canadian history by giving us the true stories behind well-known figures such as Harriet Tubman and John Brown. She also profiles lesser-known but equally heroic figures such as Mary Ann Shadd, who became the first black female newspaper editor in North America, and Osborne Perry Anderson, the only black survivor of the fighting at Harpers Ferry. An extraordinary examination of a part of American history, From Midnight to Dawn will captivate readers with its tales of hope, courage, and a people’s determination to live equally under the law.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Popular and familiar as the escape-to-Canada image is, little attention has been paid to the lives of the more than 30,000 blacks some born free, others self-emancipated who found refuge there. Tobin's highly readable account traces the 19th-century communities in Canada West (today's Ontario), from the first organized black settlement led by a group from Cincinnati in 1829 to the "largest and most successful" one, established in 1849. Biographical sketches of these " 'trans-border citizens, whose lives entwined with both countries" enhance the local history. Among them are well-known fugitives who dropped out of American history as their lives continued in Canada (Anthony Burns, William Parker, Henry Bibb) and major figures whose Canadian sojourn is often buried (William Wells Brown visited; Harriet Tubman made St. Catharines her home for six years). There's an enlightening portrait of Josiah Henson (the model for Stowe's Uncle Tom) as a political activist, a fascinating look at the pioneering journalist and early feminist Mary Ann Shadd and an intriguing section on the deep "Canadian connection to Harpers Ferry," as John Brown meets with the fugitives in Chatham. Accessible and fluidly written, the book will appeal to general readers.
