Escape from Slavery: Five Journeys to Freedom

To try and escape from slavery could mean death or torture, yet many slaves were willing to risk it all in order to have their freedom. In these true accounts you will meet many interesting people who did just that:

• Eliza and her baby, running across the ice;
• Selena and Cornelia Jackson, masquerading as boys;
• Henry Box Brown, shipping himself north in a wooden crate;
• Jane Johnson, risking everything to testify against her former owner in court and
• Ellen Craft, posing as her husband’s owner.

Escaping from slavery against over-whelming odds, these people were helped by courage, ingenuity, and the informal network known as the Underground Railroad. Here are their gripping stories, told by Doreen Rappaport, illustrated by Charles Lilly, and accompanied by information about slave laws of the era, key Underground Railroad leaders and a bibliography.