Walkin' the Line: A Journey from Past to Present Along the Mason-Dixon [Paperback]

Bill Ecenbarger (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 30, 2001

This unique history/travelogue examines the influence of this great divider which remains the most powerful symbol separating Yankee from Rebel.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In 1763, two astronomer-mathematicians, Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon, came to the U.S. from England to mark the border dividing Maryland and Pennsylvania and settle a land dispute. Their surveying project took more than four years to complete, and helped shape the course of American historyAespecially in the early 19th century, when their Line came to symbolize the distinct ideologies of the slave South and the free North. Using the infamous Line as his guide, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Ecenbarger travels across the region, investigating the history of race and culture in the U.S. Drawing on published sources and interviews, as well as his own observations of its architecture and geography, Ecenbarger tells the Line's often tragic story. Meanwhile, he introduces readers to the people who've lived along the dividing line, including Kay McElvey, an African-American teacher in Hurlock, Md., who traced the history of the local black community; Quaker Thomas Garrett of Wilmington, Del., a 19th-century abolitionist who wouldn't quit working on the underground railroad even after he was heavily fined for his activities; Daniel Logab, Garrett's ethical opposite, who made his living capturing runaway slaves and selling them south; and Sarah Bulah, an ordained minister, who lived on the Line and joined other blacks to fight segregated schools. (Her case became part of the 1954 Brown vs. the Board of Education case.) Part travelogue, part historical essay, this book is a well-written and dramatic examination of history, geography and race. B&w photos. (Sept.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

The Mason-Dixon Line was originally drawn in 1768 by two British surveyors, Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon, sent to settle a land dispute. The line later became the dividing point between the free North and the slaveholding South. Ecenbarger, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, walked the accessible parts of the 365-mile line and sought out people with stories to tell that would shed light on the line's historical and racial significance. Ecenbarger also cites Charles Mason's journal, courthouse records, and interviews with residents of Maryland, Delaware, and Pennsylvania who live along the line. The Mason-Dixon Line represents racial tensions and mirrors animosities that have persisted through slavery, Reconstruction, Jim Crow, the civil rights era, and even today, with some towns practicing unofficial racial division. Highlighting this checkered history, Ecenbarger visited Harriet Tubman's Underground Railroad and the site of reverse operation, where free blacks were sold into slavery in the South. This is an interesting look at a national landmark that is "embedded in the national psyche as a powerful racial symbol." Vanessa Bush
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: M.Evans & Company (August 30, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0871319624
• ISBN-13: 978-0871319623
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #917,308 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Personalizes basic geography, October 18, 2001

By 

Corinne H. Smith (Athol, MA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

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This review is from: Walkin' the Line: A Journey from Past to Present Along the Mason-Dixon (Hardcover)

The recent book "Drawing the Line" by Edwin Danson details the technicalities of the work done by Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon in marking the boundaries of Delaware, Maryland, and Pennsylvania in the 1760s. Nearly two and a half centuries after that land survey took place, William Ecenbarger travels along the famous border not only to reminisce about that task but also to document some of the lives that have lived there since. It's not a pristine picture. Race relations loom large in his findings. Reverse Underground Railroaders snatched free blacks from the North and sent them south during the 1800s. KKK activity seems to thrive along the line, even up through recent times. For whites who are under the impression that civil rights and equality were successfully achieved by blacks either after the Civil War or in the mid-1960s, the accounts relayed here may be disturbing to read. Jarring, but necessary. Black and white photos of people, buildings, and places add much to the text, and the map at the end of the book is a handy resource to consult. Though Ecenbarger seems to have a fascination with more of the negative stories than the positive (i.e., while he mentions Mercersburg, Penna., he doesn't note that PA's only president, James Buchanan, was born there), this book remains a real eye-opener to those of us who resided nearby and never knew the truth.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Defining the line......, March 11, 2001

By 

MrKurtz (Philadelphia, PA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Walkin' the Line: A Journey from Past to Present Along the Mason-Dixon (Hardcover)

William Ecenbarger does not just tell us about how Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon marked a line dividing Pennsylvania from Maryland but he reveals how their line marked the boundary that speprated slaves from free negros and slave owners from abolitionists. The book shows that the Mason Dixon line goes not just from the east to the west it also goes through America's history from the days it was first surveyed until today. Read this book and find how the stone markers define the properties once owned by William Penn and Celilius Calvert (the Second Lord Baltimore) and how they also define a major part of the towns and citizens along it's path and crucial to our nation's history.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A delightful piece of stimulating literature, January 9, 2003

By 

Efs Danson "edanson" (UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Walkin' the Line: A Journey from Past to Present Along the Mason-Dixon (Hardcover)

Bill Ecenbarger's Walkin' the Line is a delightful stroll along the entire Mason-Dixon. Whether its dropping into a bar for a chat with the locals or reminiscing about some long past tragedy, Mr Ecenbarger employs his considerable journalistic skills to deliver to us the unique record of the historical perspective of Mason and Dixon extraordinary achievement. As a treatment of the Underground Railroad, by which slaves from the South ostensibly sought freedom, Walkin' the Line is essential reading.
The book is an engrossing, often poignant, reminder of days gone by and of slowly changing attitudes towards race and culture. The conversations with the people he met during his journey are written in a lively and colourful style and fairly represent modern attitudes, feelings and symbolism for this, the most famous border in America and, probably, the world.
Read it and enjoy a rare piece of honest and entertaining writing.