The Underground Railroad in Floyd County, Indiana [Paperback]

Pamela R. Peters (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0786410701 | ISBN-13: 978-0786410705 | Publication Date: July 1, 2001

Floyd County, Indiana, and its county seat, New Albany, are located directly across the Ohio River from Louisville, Kentucky. Louisville was a major slave-trade center, and Indiana was a free state. Many slaves fled to Floyd County via the Underground Railroad, but their fight for freedom did not end once they reached Indiana. Sufficient information on slaves coming to and through this important area may be found in court records, newspaper stories, oral history accounts, and other materials that a full and fascinating history is possible, one detailing the struggles that runaway slaves faced in Floyd County, such as local, state, and federal laws working together to keep them from advancing socially, politically, and economically. This work also discusses the attitudes, people, and places that help in explaining the successes and heartaches of escaping slaves in Floyd County. Included are a number of freedom and manumission papers, which provided court certification of the freedom of former slaves.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Pamela R. Peters is a former legal secretary. She lives in New Albany, Indiana.

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Mcfarland & Co Inc Pub (July 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786410701
• ISBN-13: 978-0786410705
• Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 7 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,604,960 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Underground Railroad Unmasked, October 21, 2001

By 

Robert Urekew (Louisville, KY United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Underground Railroad in Floyd County, Indiana (Paperback)

Armed guards are stationed at ferry terminals on both shores of the wide river, carefully inspecting the travel documents of selected persons, insensitive to the fear and humiliation they inflict on these targets of their scrutiny. A scenario from a modern totalitarian government in the years just prior to the fall of Communism in Europe? Hardly. The ferry terminals are in Louisville, Kentucky and New Albany, Indiana, and the time frame is just prior to and including the American Civil War. With honesty, precision and determination, Pamela Peters presents her readers with a glimpse of what it must have been like to be a slave in a Southern state who had the hope of freedom and the means to attain it: The Underground Railroad

Peters paints a brutally frank picture of the stark realities that faced slaves who attempted to cross the Ohio River into a "free" state like Indiana. Degradation and vilification did not cease on the other shore. Humiliating legislation denied both runaways and free blacks the rights and privileges enjoyed by the white majority, forced them to live in isolated designated areas, required them to register as aliens and even to pay a bond against the likelihood that they might lack gainful employment. She makes it quite clear that crossing over into "free" territory could not be the final goal for runaway slaves. For complete security, the destination had to be Canada, since federal law permitted owners of escaped slaves to arrest and detain them anywhere in the United States.

With painstaking precision, the author documents her findings. She employs every available resource, from gravestones to courthouse records to personal interviews with descendents. In addition to correcting the mistaken popular view that there was freedom and security for runaways in the North, Peters also demonstrates the complicity of most of the mainstream churches in the odious institution that was slavery. As if that were not enough, perhaps one of her most significant contributions is the clear and compelling evidence that the Underground Railroad's conductors were not mostly well-intentioned white folks. Rather, those who risked so much to bring freedom to others in this unique clandestine network were free and recently-freed African-Americans , as well as other runaway slaves. After Pamela Peters, the popular textbook version of the Underground Railroad's conductors being principled, church-going white people is no longer tenable.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Underground Railroad in Floyd County, Indiana, September 27, 2001

By 

Gilbert Garner (Inglewood, California United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Underground Railroad in Floyd County, Indiana (Paperback)

Having been born in Floyd County, Indiana, I often wondered what role Indiana, being a border state, played
during the unfortunate period of civil war in America. This
treatise so eloquently presented, answered many of the questions I often asked myself before I was able to sink deeply into this discourse. Thank you Pam Peters, for I now know many of my ancestors aligned themselves with good and fought diligently on the side of freedom and against the evils of human bondage. And, were able to accomplish much, despite the transgressions and oppression that were visited upon them.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Ground-Breaking Work on Underground RR Discoveries, September 23, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: The Underground Railroad in Floyd County, Indiana (Paperback)

This book contains extensive and thorough research to back up and debunk certain claims about the Underground Railroad in Indiana. This is a fascinating look at what happened right along the border of the North and the South. The author does a good job of revealing the truths often imbedded in the legends regarding the Underground Railroad.