The Underground Railroad | Page 2

been sold by me, on the subscription plan, with hardly any facilities for the work, makes it obvious that it would, in the hands of a competent publisher, have a wide circulation.
And here I may frankly state, that but for the hope I have always cherished that this work would encourage the race in efforts for self-elevation, its publication never would have been undertaken by me.
I believe no more strongly at this moment than I have believed ever since the Proclamation of Emancipation was made by Abraham Lincoln, that as a class, in this country, no small exertion will have to be put forth before the blessings of freedom and knowledge can be fairly enjoyed by this people; and until colored men manage by dint of hard acquisition to enter the ranks of skilled industry, very little substantial respect will be shown them, even with the ballot-box and musket in their hands.
Well-conducted shops and stores; lands acquired and good farms managed in a manner to compete with any other; valuable books produced and published on interesting and important subjects--these are some of the fruits which the race are expected to exhibit from their newly gained privileges.
If it is asked "how?" I answer, "through extraordinary determination and endeavor," such as are demonstrated in hundreds of cases in the pages of this book, in the struggles of men and women to obtain their freedom, education and property.
These facts must never be lost sight of.
The race must not forget the rock from whence they were hewn, nor the pit from whence, they were digged.
Like other races, this newly emancipated people will need all the knowledge of their past condition which they can get.
The bondage and deliverance of the children of Israel will never be allowed to sink into oblivion while the world stands.
Those scenes of suffering and martyrdom millions of Christians were called upon to pass through in the days of the Inquisition are still subjects of study, and have unabated interest for all enlightened minds.
The same is true of the history of this country. The struggles of the pioneer fathers are preserved, produced and re-produced, and cherished with undying interest by all Americans, and the day will not arrive while the Republic exists, when these histories will not be found in every library.
While the grand little army of abolitionists was waging its untiring warfare for freedom, prior to the rebellion, no agency encouraged them like the heroism of fugitives. The pulse of the four millions of slaves and their desire for freedom, were better felt through "The Underground Railroad," than through any other channel.
Frederick Douglass, Henry Bibb, Wm. Wells Brown, Rev. J.W. Logan, and others, gave unmistakable evidence that the race had no more eloquent advocates than its own self-emancipated champions.
Every step they took to rid themselves of their fetters, or to gain education, or in pleading the cause of their fellow-bondmen in the lecture-room, or with their pens, met with applause on every hand, and the very argument needed was thus furnished in large measure. In those dark days previous to emancipation, such testimony was indispensable.
The free colored men are as imperatively required now to furnish the same manly testimony in support of the ability of the race to surmount the remaining obstacles growing out of oppression, ignorance, and poverty.
In the political struggles, the hopes of the race have been sadly disappointed. From this direction no great advantage is likely to arise very soon.
Only as desert can be proved by the acquisition of knowledge and the exhibition of high moral character, in examples of economy and a disposition to encourage industrial enterprises, conducted by men of their own ranks, will it be possible to make political progress in the face of the present public sentiment.
Here, therefore, in my judgment is the best possible reason for vigorously pushing the circulation of this humble volume--that it may testify for thousands and tens of thousands, as no other work can do.
WILLIAM STILL, Author.
September, 1878. Philadelphia, Pa.

ILLUSTRATIONS.

THE AUTHOR
PETER STILL--"THE KIDNAPPED AND THE RANSOMED"
CHARITY STILL TWICE ESCAPED FROM SLAVERY
DESPERATE CONFLICT IN A BARN
DEATH OF ROMULUS HALL
RESURRECTION OF HENRY BOX BROWN
RESCUE OF JANE JOHNSON AND HER CHILDREN
PASSMORE WILLIAMSON
JANE JOHNSON
ESCAPING FROM PORTSMOUTH, VA
TWENTY-EIGHT FUGITIVES ESCAPING FROM EASTERN SHORE OF MARYLAND
ESCAPING FROM ALABAMA ON TOP OF A CAR
CROSSING THE RIVER ON HORSEBACK IN THE NIGHT
A BOLD STROKE FOR FREEDOM--CONTEST WITH FIRE-ARMS
ABRAM GALLOWAY
THE MAYOR AND POLICE OF NORFOLK SEARCHING CAPTAIN FOUNTAIN'S SCHOONER
MARIA WEEMS ESCAPING AS JO WRIGHT
JOHN HENRY HILL
DRY-GOODS MERCHANT SEARCHING THE CARS
ESCAPE WITH A LADY, AS HER COACHMAN, WITH MASTER'S HORSE AND CARRIAGE
SIX ON TWO HORSES
UP A TREE
SAMUEL GREEN SENTENCED TO THE PENITENTIARY FOR TEN YEARS FOR HAVING A COPY OF "UNCLE TOM'S CABIN" IN HIS HOUSE
LEAR GREEN ESCAPING IN A CHEST
ESCAPE OF ELEVEN PASSENGERS FROM MARYLAND IN TWO CARRIAGES
THE CHRISTIANA TRAGEDY
WILLIAM AND ELLEN CRAFT
MEMBERS OF THE ACTING COMMITTEE:
N.W.