Beyond the River: The Untold Story of the Heroes of the Underground Railroad [Paperback]

Ann Hagedorn (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 3, 2004

From the highest hill above the town of Ripley, Ohio, you can see five bends in the Ohio River. You can see the hills of northern Kentucky and the rooftops of Ripley's riverfront houses. And you can see what the abolitionist John Rankin saw from his house at the top of that hill, where for nearly forty years he placed a lantern each night to guide fugitive slaves to freedom beyond the river.

In Beyond the River, Ann Hagedorn tells the remarkable story of the participants in the Ripley line of the Underground Railroad, bringing to life the struggles of the men and women, black and white, who fought "the war before the war" along the Ohio River. Determined in their cause, Rankin, his family, and his fellow abolitionists -- some of them former slaves themselves -- risked their lives to guide thousands of runaways safely across the river into the free state of Ohio, even when a sensational trial in Kentucky threatened to expose the Ripley "conductors." Rankin, the leader of the Ripley line and one of the early leaders of the antislavery movement, became nationally renowned after the publication of his Letters on American Slavery, a collection of letters he wrote to persuade his brother in Virginia to renounce slavery.

A vivid narrative about memorable people, Beyond the River is an inspiring story of courage and heroism that transports us to another era and deepens our understanding of the great social movement known as the Underground Railroad.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Although the title suggests otherwise, this book could serve as a biography of John Rankin, one of Ohio's most active "conductors" on the Underground Railroad. Rankin (1793-1886), a Presbyterian minister and abolitionist in Ripley, where the Ohio River separated the free state of Ohio from the slave state of Kentucky, was equally well-known among the enslaved and their enslavers. To runaway blacks, Rankin's house was a gateway to freedom atop Ripley's highest hill. To slaveholders in Kentucky, Rankin was a formidable force in the borderland war with Ripley, that "abolitionist hellhole," on the other side of the river. One of the earliest leaders in the antislavery movement, Rankin published his Letters on American Slavery in 1823, which became standard reading for American antislavery advocates. Hagedorn (Ransom: The Untold Story of International Kidnapping) brings to life the story of Rankin, his family, free blacks and the other forgotten heroes on the front line who assisted hundreds of blacks on the trek to freedom. Rankin's story is inspiring, but often not as captivating as those of the other heroes who are secondary characters here. The author brilliantly chronicles threats of midnight assassins, riots in Cincinnati and a pivotal trial in Kentucky in the 1830s, and a slave woman's nighttime escape across the icy river with her two-year-old (and the woman's risky return across the Ohio three years later to rescue her daughter and seven grandchildren from a Kentucky slaveholder). Hagedorn's decision to relocate to Ripley during the book's completion no doubt inspired her immediate and vivid prose, bringing these historical figures to a wider audience.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

The town of Ripley, located on the Ohio River between the slave state of Kentucky and the free state of Ohio, was the site of clashes between abolitionists and slave hunters long before the start of the Civil War. Hagedorn brings to life lesser-known activists in the abolitionist movement who led double lives in a small town torn up over the issue of slavery. She focuses on the Reverend John Rankin, spurred by religious fervor to become a leading abolitionist, helping escaped slaves travel on to Canada during the early 1820s. Using historical documents, newspapers, and letters, Hagedorn captures a fervent era, when the Missouri Compromise, the invention of the cotton gin, and growing slave revolts all set the stage for roiling debate on slavery. Rankin and his family were part of a network of abolitionists that included Harriet Beecher Stowe and John Parker, a free black man who ventured south to guide slaves to freedom. Readers interested in the history of the abolitionist movement in the U.S. will appreciate this look at unsung heroes of the era. Vanessa Bush
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 333 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster (February 3, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0684870665
• ISBN-13: 978-0684870663
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #229,214 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Celebrating the people of the Underground Railroad, February 9, 2003

By 

Carl Westmoreland (Cincinnati, OH) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Beyond the River: A True Story of the Underground Railroad (Hardcover)

I have read and reread Beyond the River by Ann Hagedorn. I have found the book to be compelling and believable. Ms. Hagedorn takes us beyond where most Americans are comfortable when it comes to examining the history of slavery, race, gender and class in America. With firm, powerful language, and with documented historical accuracy, she allows the reader to understand that Abolition was more complicated than the hiding of helpless people of African decent by the good Whites in the North and the bad Whites in the South. Ms. Hagedorn makes us understand that most Whites in the North did not support Abolition, and most Abolitionists did not support what we would today call integration.
She immerses the reader in the physical, political, and cultural landscape of Southwest Ohio, Northern Kentucky and the America of the 1830s-1860s. Her depiction of the "face off" between the sons of John Rankin, their mother (Rankin was out of town during the incident), and an armed group that attempted to burn the Rankin barn places the reader in the middle of the action.
When a man can pass on a noble idea to his sons and daughters, as well as to his neighbors, he has left a legacy. Sons and daughters often run from the awesome weight associated with their parents' "Moral Crusades." John Rankin's son Lowry resisted his father's urgings to become a "Major" in the war against slavery until hi witness the sale of a Black woman docked at Ripley (the Kentucky border extends north to the low water mark of the Ohio River) to a young man. The young woman was to serve as a mistress, a "sexual toy," to her new owner and in the tradition of the day she had no say in the matter. Ms. Hagedorn's description of the physical examination of the Black woman who was reduced to physical intrusions reserved for prostitiutes, felons and farm animals confronts the reader with a major unspoken element of slavery, sexual exploitation.
Interracial cooperation between Black and White Abolitionists did not occur on a widespread basis in America, but in the region which includes Ripley,Ohio a few partnerships of longstanding existed between Rev. John Mahan (Sardinia, Ohio), John D. Hudson (Gist Settlement), Moses Cumberland, and several other Black people who in the Gist Settlement became involved in several violent confrontations with those who assisted the "Slave Regime". During one confrontation in the Gist Settlement during wich time a group of 18 'vigilantes' were attempting to take Moses Cumberland into custudy the Black residents, John Mahan and his supporters rallied to his support. In the violence that followed John Hudson's sister Sally was shot in the back. Un-armed, Sally Hudson scratched, kicked, bit, fought, outfought Grant Lindsey, and another man on Sunday, April 30, 1839. Breaking free, Sally ran towards her home only to be shot, her spine severed: two weeks later she died.
Ann Hagedorn's pen has revived Sally Hudson's brave story, she has rescued Ms. Hudson from obscurity, and the trite images too often reserved for women. She captured Sally's fire, she has given Sally Hudson's passion for freedom, life and Sally's spirit is as big as that of any man who has walked thi earth. Ann Hagedorn allows us to legitimately, and with historic accuracy, expand the definition of Abolitionist Heroes to include women, youth, people of African descent, and to understand that the most heroic were those who had been enslaved and most of the time made the most diffucult part of their journey with the help of other enslaved people.
Using the larger than life images of John Rankin, and John Parker as a palette, Ms. Hagedorn celebrates the secret weapon of the Underground Railroad, people of conscience, and good will.
Carl Westmoreland, Senior Advisor, National Underground Freedom Center

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Telling the real story beyond reproach!, April 5, 2003

By 

Alvin C. Romer "The Jackal" (Miami, FL USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Beyond the River: A True Story of the Underground Railroad (Hardcover)

Lest we forget, the celebrated links that make up parts of history are rooted with the ties that bind and the legacy in which they are allowed to preserve that history. One such entity is the Underground Railroad and the product that fueled it - runaway slaves. This underground path to freedom forged a way not only for escaped slaves to reach freedom, but gave certain status to those that deserve a proper place in American history as heroes, both unsung and noted. Beyond The River is author Ann Hagedorn's gift to historic content embellishing such a storied and misunderstood part of a young nation coming to grips with "the war before the war". In it, she details with facts a well-documented historical accuracy. These are the stories and mindsets of those whom would dedicate their lives to the abolishment of slavery, and the harboring of the slaves fleeing it.

What give this book direction and a pervading sense of identity are the incumbent figures that are tantamount to its success. With this in mind, it could very well serve as a biography of John Rankin, one of Ohio's most active "conductors" on the Underground Railroad. Rankin (1793-1886), a Presbyterian minister and abolitionist in Ripley, where the Ohio River separated the free state of Ohio from the slave state of Kentucky, was equally well known among the enslaved and their enslavers. Hagedorn tries to bring to life the story of Rankin, his family, free blacks and the other forgotten heroes on the front line who assisted hundreds of blacks on the trek to freedom with other analogies that tend to make her efforts uneven. Rankin's story is inspiring and albeit, may have a place among the legacies that make legends of people, but tend not to be as captivating as those of the other heroes who are secondary characters in the book. One of the more poignant stories is that of a slave woman's nighttime escape across the icy river with her two-year-old (and the woman's risky return across the Ohio three years later to rescue her daughter and seven grandchildren from a Kentucky slaveholder). And there are others. The author brilliantly chronicles threats of midnight assassins, riots in Cincinnati and a pivotal trial in Kentucky in the 1830s, along with other detail descriptions of survival angst of the period. Hagedorn's relocated to Ripley to insure the book's completion, in my opinion was wise and led to the inspiration for the vivid prose, and wherewithal to bring these historical figures to a wider audience.

If you're a history buff and a bibliophile to this type of collecting, this book should find its place among the others for legitimacy. The gift of research and meticulously giving reference to time and place makes this an enjoyable read. I recommend it for yet another documentation of a process to understand that the most heroic were those who had been under bondage, making the most difficult part of a journey with the help of other enslaved people. Undoubtedly, this will always be an interesting sidelight to other historical content, but will be specific for readers willing to take a chance on this book.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Don't Miss this Gem!, October 13, 2003

By 

Stephanie L. Reed (Columbus, OH United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Beyond the River: A True Story of the Underground Railroad (Hardcover)

So you think you know all about the Underground Railroad, the secret network that fugitive slaves used to escape bondage? Try this quiz:

1. Once they reached one station of the UGRR, how did fugitives reach the next station?

2. What role did women and children play in the UGRR?

3. What religious group do you associate with the UGRR?

So those questions are easy? Try these:

4. What connection did Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of Uncle Tom's Cabin, have with Ripley?

5. How many years did the citizens of tiny Ripley, Ohio serve as major players in the Underground Railroad?

Ann Hagedorn answers all these questions and more in Beyond the River. In her skillful hands, a century and a half fades away and the people of Ripley spring to life. By day, they live a surprisingly civilized life-- none of those rustic log cabins and barefooted trips to the outhouse that you read about in many attempts to bring history alive. By night, the sophisticated network of friends and neighbors bands together for one purpose: "a solemn promise to fight slavery until it is dead or the Lord calls me home."

As a girl in the 1960's, I traveled through Ripley, Ohio a couple of times a year to visit my grandparents. I knew a little about the Rankin family and the Underground Railroad from reading the historical marker near Rankin House, but until Ann Hagedorn's book, the story of Ripley was lost history. Read Beyond the River the first time for the gripping story, the second time for the historical accuracy, and the third time for the inspiration to make our world a better place.