Freedom Roads: Searching for the Underground Railroad [Hardcover]

Joyce Hansen (Author), Gary McGowan (Author), James Ransome (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 12, 2003 | Age Level: 9 and up | Grade Level: 4 and up

The Underground Railroad was meant to be a set of secret pathways, and its traces have been obscured by time. But Joyce Hansen and Gary McGowan, who won a Coretta Scott King Honor for their previous book, show how archaeologists and historians sift through corn cobs and root cellars, study songs and quilts, and use the latest technology to reconstruct those heroic journeys. Freedom Roads offers both a fresh look at the escape routes from slavery and an introduction to the tools, methods, and insights of archaeology, anthropology, and historical conservation. Here is a modern-day detective story that uncovers the traces of a time in American history when courageous slaves and idealistic abolitionists defied the law and saved lives.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Gr. 5-8. From Florida's Fort Mose, established by fugitive slaves in 1732, to discoveries made within the past few years, the authors examine the origins and development of the Underground Railroad, with a special focus on the varieties and limitations of historical evidence. They clearly establish that evidence about the railroad is scanty or circumstantial, pointing to thermal scans of suspected sites, the discovery of a hidden closet in an old Brooklyn house, spirituals, legal claims, and family anecdotes. Of course, they also consider narratives of escaped slaves and oral history gathered by WPA workers, cautioning against the uncritical use of such evidence. Showing how facts and inferences from all of these sources can be combined to create a general picture, they conclude that the Underground Railroad was probably a multitude of individual initiatives rather than a unified, systematic organization. Maps, sidebars, contemporary documents, and a scene-setting painting at each chapter's head add both information and atmosphere. Valuable as much for its approach as for its specific topic. Readers wanting more will welcome the closing multimedia resource list. John Peters
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9 and up
  
• Hardcover: 166 pages
• Publisher: Cricket Books/Marcato; 1 edition (March 12, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0812626737
• ISBN-13: 978-0812626735
• Product Dimensions: 9.7 x 7.9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #184,354 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #92 in Books > Children's Books > History > United States > 1800s

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great informative!, April 4, 2006

By 

Ashley LaLonde "Future Teacher" (Standish, MI USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Freedom Roads: Searching for the Underground Railroad (Hardcover)

I am a student in the process of becoming a teacher, and as such I found this to be a great supplement to any text book and more informative than a fiction. This book gives more in depth information about slavery and specifically the Underground Railroad than any other book, text or otherwise, that I have ever read! I learned about the spirituals as well as the fact that there was a kind of Underground Railroadvin the 1600's-slaves fled to St. Augustine for safe haven. What a wonderful addition to any classroom!!