Literary Analysis and Book Reviews
Study Guides
Here are some guides with suggestions for questions to use when leading book discussion groups about The Underground Railroad:
Background reading: Resources Colson Whitehead used to research his book
- Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl: Harriet Jacobs"Northerners know nothing at all about Slavery. They think it is perpetual
bondage only. They have no conception of the depth of degradation involved
in that word, SLAVERY; if they had, they would never cease their efforts until
so horrible a system was overthrown."
- Women in Chains: the Legacy of Slavery in Black Women's Fiction byCall Number: 813.5099 P322wPublication Date: 2000
Gateway to Freedom: The Hidden History of the Underground Railroad
A recording by the National Archives of a panel discussion about the Underground Railroad: "A panel discusses the true story of fugitive slaves and the antislavery activists who defied the law to help them. Ed Ayers, President of the University of Richmond, moderates Eric Foner, author of Gateway to Freedom; Edna Greene Medford, professor of history at Howard University; and Adam Rothman."
Streamed live on February 3, 2015.
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- ASA Library CatalogFind materials in Lehigh Libraries collections
- African American Periodicals: 1825-1995 This link opens in a new windowFull text of more than 170 African American Periodicals published between 1825 and 1995.
- American History in Video This link opens in a new windowMore than video: a collection of newsreels, archives, public affairs footage, and documentaries, both commercial and government sponsored.
- America: History and Life with Full Text This link opens in a new windowHistorical research about the United States and Canada from prehistory to the present.
- JSTOR: The Scholarly Journal Archive This link opens in a new windowFull text of scholarly journals, beginning with the very first issue of each title. Primarily humanities and social sciences titles.
Primary Resources- Newspaper accounts
- Nineteenth Century U.S. Newspaper Digital Archive This link opens in a new windowCover-to-cover full-text contents for hundreds of 19th century U.S. papers, 1800-1899.
- African-American Newspapers: The 19th Century This link opens in a new windowNewspaper coverage of events and issues of the day, as well as biographies, vital statistics, essays and editorials, poetry and prose, and advertisements.
- African American Newspapers: 1827-1998 This link opens in a new windowAccess to approximately 270 U.S. newspapers chronicling a century and a half of the African American experience.
- New York Times (Historical Newspapers) This link opens in a new windowA full-image archive that includes the entire historical run of The New York Times, since 1851.The database delivers every page of every issue from cover to cover, with full-page and article images in downloadable PDF.
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Runaway slave advertisements in newspapers
Collection: The Pennsylvania Gazette
Publication: The Pennsylvania Gazette
Date: July 24, 1776
Title: May 1, 1776.
May 1, 1776
SIX DOLLARS Reward.
RUN away from the subscriber, living in Harford county, Maryland, a Mulattoe Slave , named JACK, well set, is about 5 feet 6 inches high, very white for one of his kind, speaks good English; is a very great rogue. The said Slave was taken up and put in Lancaster goal on the first of July 1775, and made his escape from William Whiteford coming home. The said fellow said he had been in New York goal as a runaway , but, by reason of my advertisement not going there, was let out; and says he has been on board the kinghips of war, and that he was at the West Indies; it is thought he will endeavour to get to the ministerial army; he has changed his name to Jacob Kelly. Any person who takes up said Slave is requested to deal severely with him, and if he is taken up by this advertisement, is desired to put him in Dunlappaper. Whoever takes up said Slave shall have the above reward, paid by HUGH WHITEFORD.