William Still

Philadelphian William Still, the freeborn son of a former slave, was a businessman, writer, and among the most prominent black conductors of the Underground Railroad. His 1872 book Underground Railroad Records was one of the few post–Civil War histories to call attention to the significant involvement of the runaways themselves in their escape rather than stressing, as most works did, the efforts of white abolitionists in Railroad operations. After the Civil War, Still continued to lobby for equal rights and full citizenship for black Americans.

The following selection from Still's Underground Railroad Records recounts the experiences of Samuel Green Jr., a slave helped by the Railroad and its most famed conductor Harriet Tubman to successfully escape to Canada. Yet after Green's father, Samuel Sr., a minister who had purchased his freedom, returned to Maryland following a visit with his...