Book Review: Passengers: True Stories of the Underground Railroad by William Still

Edited by Quincy T. Mills

Jean Moir

William Still (1821 – 1902) was a leading light in the Underground Railroad which helped runaway slaves reach the Northern States safely and find work and lodgings. He kept records of the reports from agents of the Railroad and letters of thanks from  the freed slaves.

From Amazon Books

These show the terrible conditions of slavery – not only the relentless drudgery, poor rations, and accommodation, but rape and beatings, sometimes to the death and often causing permanent injury or ill-health. Parents and children, husbands and wives were split up and sold to different slave-owners, and some never met again, despite their best efforts.

Agents and fleeing slaves showed great courage and ingenuity. Sometimes women dressed as men, and vice versa. One barked ferociously and frightened off people who came too near his hiding place. Some endured days in boxes with a little food and small airholes. Sympathetic sea or river captains hid slaves in their ships.

One man rode across the Potomac in the freezing cold at night. Some hid out in forests – with bears, or swamps – with malaria and other diseases. Their stories make inspirational reading.

William Still and his wife were obviously very popular with the correspondents and seem to have kept an open, welcoming house.

It is not clear whether any of the correspondents are Friends, but some use the “thou” form. One agent takes the alias of “William Penn”. One specific Quaker is mentioned – Abigail Goodman.

There were one or two ‘bad eggs’. One man who “looked like a Quaker” betrayed them, and so did the wife of one Quaker man. But most are positive and highly regarded.

These included Lucretia Mott. She was an influential abolitionist and feminist. She said, “I feel bound to plead their [slaves’] cause in season and out of season and to endeavour to put myself in their souls’ stead and to aid in all my power in every right effort for their immediate emancipation”. After the passage of the Fugitive Slave Law, she and her husband opened their home to users of the Underground Railroad. She also campaigned for the franchise for freedmen and accompanied freed slaves to trials.

Other Friends are briefly mentioned, and many were staunch abolitionists.

A memorable book.

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Forty-Three Newsletter • Number 529 • May 2023
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