The Underground Railroad (Annotated)
Enriched Edition. Fugitive Slave Narratives, Abolitionist Testimonies, and the Struggle for Freedom in Nineteenth-Century AmericaBy William Still
Length43h 49m
About this audiobook
William Still's The Underground Railroad (1872) is a landmark documentary history of the clandestine network that aided enslaved people seeking freedom in the antebellum United States. Combining narrative biography, autobiographical testimony, correspondence, organizational records, and abolitionist commentary, Still reconstructs the journeys of fugitives and the assistance offered by Black and white agents. Its episodic structure and vivid personal accounts give the work both archival authority and the dramatic force of life writing, while its moral clarity places it within nineteenth-century abolitionist literature and the emerging tradition of African American historiography. The book is not merely an account of escape; it is a sustained record of courage, strategy, community, and resistance to slavery's legal and social order. Still, a free-born Black Philadelphian, abolitionist, businessman, and secretary of the Philadelphia Vigilance Committee, occupied a uniquely informed position. He interviewed freedom seekers, preserved their narratives, coordinated assistance, and maintained crucial records at considerable personal risk. His work arose from a conviction that Black agency and Black testimony had to be documented against the distortions of proslavery politics and the silences of conventional history. The volume therefore reflects both direct experience and a deliberate effort to preserve collective memory. This book is essential for readers interested in slavery, abolitionism, African American history, and documentary literature. Scholars will value its evidentiary richness, while general readers will find its testimonies immediate and compelling. Still's volume remains indispensable for understanding freedom-making as an organized, interracial, and profoundly human struggle.
This enriched edition has been carefully crafted to add value to your reading experience.
- A succinct Introduction situates the work's timeless appeal and themes.
- The Synopsis outlines the central plot, highlighting key developments without spoiling critical twists.
- A detailed Historical Context immerses you in the era's events and influences that shaped the writing.
- A thorough Analysis dissects symbols, motifs, and character arcs to unearth underlying meanings.
- Reflection questions prompt you to engage personally with the work's messages, connecting them to modern life.
Audiobook details
Rating★★★★ 4.4 (2.5K)
Includes Goodreads, Amazon, LibraryThing
GenreHistory
Length43 hrs 49 mins
Narrated byListen with 1,000+ voices
FormateBook with Audio
Publish dateNov 13, 2022
LanguageEnglish
Table of contents
1The Underground Railroad (Annotated)
2Introduction
3Historical Context
4Synopsis (Selection)
5PREFACE TO REVISED EDITION
Show all chaptersShow less
6SETH CONCKLIN
7EXTRACT OF A LETTER FROM REV. N.R. JOHNSTON
8LETTERS FROM LEVI COFFIN
9McKIERNON'S LETTER
10WM. STILL'S ANSWER
11THE SEPARATION
12UNDERGROUND RAIL ROAD LETTERS
13LETTER FROM THOMAS GARRETT (U.G.R.R. DEPOT)
14LETTER FROM MISS G.A. LEWIS (U.G.R.R. DEPOT)
15LETTER FROM E.L. STEVENS, ESQ
16LETTER FROM S.H. GAY, ESQ., EX-EDITOR OF THE ANTI-SLAVERY STANDARD AND NEW YORK TRIBUNE
17LETTER FROM JOHN H. HILL, A FUGITIVE, APPEALING IN BEHALF OF A POOR SLAVE IN PETERSBURG, VA
18LETTER FROM J. BIGELOW, ESQ
19LETTER FROM HAM & EGGS, SLAVE (U.G.R.R. AG'T)
20LETTER FROM REV H. WILSON (U.G.R.R. AG'T)
21LETTER FROM SHERIDAN FORD, IN DISTRESS
22LETTER FROM E.F. PENNYPACKER (U.G.R.R. DEPOT)
23LETTER FROM JOS. C. BUSTILL (U.G.R.R. DEPOT)
24LETTER FROM A SLAVE SECRETED IN RICHMOND
25LETTER FROM G.S. NELSON (U.G.R.R. DEPOT)
26LETTER FROM JOHN THOMPSON
27LETTER FROM "WM. PENN" (OF THE BAR)
28LETTER FROM MISS THEODOCIA GILBERT
29WILLIAM PEEL, ALIAS WILLIAM BOX PEEL JONES ARRIVED PER ERRICSON LINE OF STEAMERS, WRAPPED IN STRAW AND BOXED UP, APRIL, 1859
30DEATH OF ROMULUS HALL — NEW NAME GEORGE WEEMS
31JAMES MERCER, WM. H. GILLIAM, AND JOHN CLAYTON STOWED AWAY IN A HOT BERTH
32LETTER FROM MRS. L.E. WHITE
33LETTER FROM WILLIAM HENRY GILLIAM
34JAMES MERCER'S LETTER
35JOHN H. HILL'S LETTER
36CLARISSA DAVIS ARRIVED DRESSED IN MALE ATTIRE
37ANTHONY BLOW, ALIAS HENRY LEVISON SECRETED TEN MONTHS BEFORE STARTING — EIGHT DAYS STOWED AWAY ON A STEAMER BOUND FOR PHILADELPHIA
38PERRY JOHNSON, OF ELKTON, MARYLAND EYE KNOCKED OUT, ETC
39ISAAC FORMAN, WILLIAM DAVIS, AND WILLIS REDICK HEARTS FULL OF JOY FOR FREEDOM — VERY ANXIOUS FOR WIVES IN SLAVERY
40EXTRACT OF LETTER FROM ISAAC FORMAN
41WILLIS REDICK
42WILLIAM DAVIS
43JOSEPH HENRY CAMP THE AUCTION BLOCK IS DEFEATED AND A SLAVE TRADER LOSES FOURTEEN HUNDRED DOLLARS
44SHERIDAN FORD SECRETED IN THE WOODS — ESCAPES IN A STEAMER
45JOSEPH KNEELAND, ALIAS JOSEPH HULSON
46EX-PRESIDENT TYLER'S HOUSEHOLD LOSES AN ARISTOCRATIC "ARTICLE"
47EDWARD MORGAN, HENRY JOHNSON, JAMES AND STEPHEN BUTLER
48HENRY PREDO BROKE JAIL, JUMPED OUT OF THE WINDOW AND MADE HIS ESCAPE
49DANIEL HUGHES
50THOMAS ELLIOTT
More from William Still
The Underground Railroad (Illustrated Edition)William Still43h 52m4.4 (2.1K)$1.99 · $0.00
THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD (With Illustrations) (Annotated)William Still44h 4m4.5 (2.8K)$2 · $0.00
The Underground Railroad Collection: Real Life Stories of the Former Slaves and Abolitionists (Annotated)William Still, Laura S. Haviland, Sarah Bradford65h 31m$2 · $0.00
Taking the Underground Railroad to Freedom – Selected True Stories from Former Slaves & Abolitionists (Illustrated) (Annotated)William Still, Sarah Bradford, Laura S. Haviland65h 25m$2 · $0.00
The Underground RailroadWilliam Still43h 45m4.2 (423)$1 · $0.00
The Underground Railroad - Courage in the Time Of Slavery (Illustrated Edition)William Still, Sarah Bradford, Laura S. Haviland65h$2 · $0.00
Taking the Underground Railroad to Freedom (Annotated)William Still, Laura S. Haviland, Sarah Bradford65h 11m4.6 (11)$1.99 · $0.00
The Underground Railroad Collection: Real Life Stories of the Former Slaves and AbolitionistsWilliam Still, Laura S. Haviland, Sarah Bradford65h 32m4.6 (149)$2 · $0.00
The Underground Railroad Collection: Real Life Stories of the Former Slaves and AbolitionistsWilliam Still, Laura S. Haviland, Sarah Bradford66h 4m4.7 (11)$2 · $0.00
The Underground Railroad Collection: Real Life Stories of the Former Slaves and AbolitionistsWilliam Still, Sarah Bradford, Laura S. Haviland65h 15m4.6 (132)$1.99 · $0.00
The Underground RailroadWilliam Still, Sarah Bradford, Laura S. Haviland64h 41m4.4 (322)$1.99 · $0.00
The Underground Railroad (Complete Collection)William Still43h 31m4.4 (3.2K)$1.99 · $0.00
A Brief History of IntelligenceMax S. Bennett12h 18m4.6 (6.6K)$29 · $0.00
Black AF HistoryMichael Harriot15h 43m4.7 (14.6K)$33 · $0.00
The Gulag Archipelago Volume 3Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn21h 56m4.7 (8.9K)$46 · $0.00
Pearl of Great PriceJoseph Smith3h 8m4.7 (7.2K)$1.20 · $0.00
The Happiest Man on EarthEddie Jaku3h 48m4.6 (178K)$7 · $0.00
MotherlandJulia Ioffe17h 52m4.7 (2.5K)$40 · $0.00
Where Cowards Go to DieBenjamin Sledge8h 42m4.7 (351)$20 · $0.00
RevolutionariesSanjeev Sanyal11h 23m4.6 (2.6K)$29 · $0.00
We Crossed a Bridge and It TrembledWendy Pearlman6h4.6 (5.2K)$24 · $0.00
Unbroken Bonds of BattleJohnny Joey Jones8h 31m4.6 (2.6K)$8 · $0.00
The Daughter of AuschwitzTova Friedman, Malcolm Brabant7h 54m4.6 (16.7K)$26 · $0.00
Lily's PromiseLily Ebert, Dov Forman8h 54m4.6 (16.1K)$29 · $0.00
On Democracies and Death CultsDouglas Murray10h 38m4.6 (6.5K)$29 · $0.00
Across the RiverKent Babb11h 40m4.6 (927)$29 · $0.00
Balcony Over Jerusalem: A Middle East Memoir - Israel, Palestine and BeyondJohn Lyons12h 37m4.6 (1.4K)$33 · $0.00
BeyondStephen Walker15h 39m4.6 (3.2K)$33 · $0.00
Kings and PawnsHoward Bryant10h 9m4.6 (678)$29 · $0.00
No EscapeNury Turkel9h 30m4.6 (809)$28 · $0.00
Jubal Stone: U.S. Marshal: Blood Trail To Hell: A Western Adventure NovelCasey Nash3h 42m4.6 (3.2K)$18 · $0.00
Fall and RiseMitchell Zuckoff17h 23m4.6 (9.8K)$40 · $0.00
You may also like
Fifty Years in Chains; or, the Life of an American SlaveCharles Ball11h 21m4.4 (351)$2 · $0.00
The Life Story of Mary Prince, a West Indian SlaveMary Prince3h 35m4.1 (5.6K)$1.99 · $0.00
Narrative of Henry Box BrownHenry Box Brown2h 46m4.2 (963)$2.30
Symphony of MonstersMarc Levy8h 46m4.0 (1.5K)$29 · $0.00
FREDERICK DOUGLASS - Life Narratives of a Former American Slave, Abolitionist & Statesman (Annotated)Frederick Douglass19h 35m4.6 (1.4K)$0.99 · $0.00
Behind The Scenes: Thirty Years a Slave and Four Years in the White HouseElizabeth Keckley7h 9m4.1 (6.1K)$1.99 · $0.00
Journal of a Residence on a Georgian Plantation: 1838-1839 (Annotated)Fanny Kemble12h 46m4.1 (569)$0.99 · $0.00
The True Story of Mary Prince, a West Indian SlaveMary Prince2h 51m4.1 (5.4K)$2 · $0.00
Incidents in the Life of a Slave GirlHarriet Jacobs8h 27m4.4 (70.6K)$1.20 · $0.00
The Gulag Archipelago Volume 2Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn27h 31m4.6 (6K)$53 · $0.00
Uncle Tom's CabinHarriet Beecher Stowe20h 11m4.1 (631.2K)$2.30 · $0.00
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American SlaveFrederick Douglass4h 9m4.3 (177.8K)Free
Running a Thousand Miles for Freedom: The Escape of William and Ellen Craft From Slavery (Annotated)Ellen Craft, William Craft4h4.4 (2.6K)$1.99 · $0.00
American Slavery as It is: TestimoniesTheodore Dwight Weld23h 32m4.5 (336)$1.99 · $0.00
The History of Mary Prince, a West Indian SlaveMary Prince2h 14m4.0 (5.3K)Free
BREAKING THE CHAINS – The Essential & Powerful Narratives that Shook the Roots of Slavery (17 Books in One Volume)Harriet Beecher Stowe, Louis Hughes, William Still, Nat Turner, Olaudah Equiano, Sojourner Truth, Mary Prince, Frederick Douglass, Booker T. Washington, Elizabeth Keckley, Solomon Northup, Josiah Henson, Ellen Craft, William Craft, Sarah H. Bradford, Harriet Jacobs, Jacob D. Green, Willie Lynch133h 33m$1 · $0.00
Slavery and the Divided NationSantiago Machain4h 26m$19 · $0.00
The Faces Behind the Chains: Thousands of Interviews, Memoirs & Life Stories of Former SlavesAphra Behn, Thomas Clarkson, Daniel Drayton, Louis Hughes, Austin Steward, Ida B. Wells-Barnett, Moses Grandy, William Still, Nat Turner, Henry Bibb, Olaudah Equiano, Sojourner Truth, Mary Prince, Kate Drumgoold, Frederick Douglass, Brantz Mayer, Theodore Canot, Booker T. Washington, Elizabeth Keckley, Charles Ball, Solomon Northup, Josiah Henson, Stephen Smith, Ellen Craft, William Craft, John Gabriel Stedman, Sarah H. Bradford, Lucy A. Delaney, L. S. Thompson, F. G. De Fontaine, Henry Box Brown, John Dixon Long, Harriet Jacobs, Jacob D. Green, Work Projects Administration, Thomas S. Gaines, Willie Lynch, Margaretta Matilda Odell, Joseph Mountain479h 48m$0.99 · $0.00
Narrative of William W. Brown (Annotated)William Wells Brown2h 48m$2 · $0.00
Narrative of Henry Watson, a fugitive slaveHenry Watson1h 17m3.9 (11)$2 · $0.00