The Underground Rail Road. A Record of Facts, Authentic Narratives, Letters &c., Narrating the Hardships Hair-breadth Escapes and Death Struggles of the Slaves in their efforts for Freedom, as related by themselves and others, or witnessed by the author William Still (1821-1902)

In 1872, William Still published this unprecedented account of the individuals he encountered during his fourteen years of work on the Underground Railroad. Its pages reveal the diversity of escape experiences; men, women, children, and families arrived in Philadelphia from all over the South traveling sometimes by ingenious and risky means and always with dogged determination, resilience, and courage. The book’s publication drew postbellum readers into the drama of the Underground Railroad, portrayed the personal impact of slavery on men, women, and families, and provided a model of interracial cooperation among the abolitionist network introduced in the book.

William Still became Philadelphia’s most enterprising Underground Railroad conductor and meticulously collected and documented accounts of those who passed through his home, anti-slavery office, and community in their path to self-emancipation.