Escape from Slavery: Five Journeys to Freedom

Freedom!

Eliza and her baby, running across the ice. Selena and Cornelia Jackson, masquerading as boys. Henry Box Brown, shipping himself north in a wooden crate. Jane Johnson, risking everything to testify against her former owner in court. Ellen Craft, posing as her husband's owner.

Escaping from slavery against overwhelming odds, these people were helped by courage, ingenuity, and the informal network known as the Underground Railroad. Here are their gripping stories, told by Doreen Rappaport, illustrated by Charles Lilly, and accompanied by information about slave laws of the era, key Underground Railroad leaders, and a bibliography.

Doreen Rappaport is well known for her groundbreaking approach to multicultural history and literature for young readers. Her many books include Victory or Death: Stories of the American Revolution; We Are The Many: A Picture Book of American Indians; and Martin’s Big Words, winner of the Jane Addams Book Award. She and her husband divide their time between New York City and a rural village in upstate New York.

Doreen Rappaport is the author of several children’s books, including American Women: Their Lives in Their Words, and Trouble at the Mines, an Honor Book for the 1988 Jane Addams Children’s Book Award.

Charles Lilly taught at New York’s School of Visual Arts for seventeen years. He has illustrated many books for children, including Freedom: A Story of the Underground Railroad.