Gateway To Freedom: The Hidden History Of The Underground Railroad - Plot & Excerpts
The youngest of eighteen sons and daughters of a Maryland slave father who had purchased his freedom and a fugitive slave mother, Still was born in Medford, New Jersey, in 1821. He moved to Philadelphia in 1844, where he worked as a handyman until the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society hired him as a “clerk” and janitor at its office in 1847. These titles belied his wide-ranging responsibilities. Still ran the society’s headquarters and was Philadelphia’s key operative in assisting fugitives, sometimes hiding them in his own home. He kept detailed records of their stories and destinations and how he aided them, which became the basis for his 1872 book, The Underground Railroad. Although it recorded illegal actions, Still’s journal was known in antislavery circles and beyond. Indeed, the Philadelphia Vigilance Committee publicly announced that its books were open for inspection, including “accurate accounts of the number of escapees, the amount of expenditures, receipts, etc.”
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