| Book Review | The American Historical Review, 110.2

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| Book Review | The American Historical Review, 110.2 | The History Cooperative

Book Review

Canada and the United States

Keith P. Griffler. Frontline of Freedom: African Americans and the Forging of the Underground Railroad in the Ohio Valley.(The Ohio River Valley Series.) Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky. 2004. Pp. xvi, 169. $35.00.

This trim, concisely written volume aims to refocus studies of the Underground Railroad to emphasize African-American agency. Much as have recent studies of abolitionism, gradual emancipation, and the internal slave trade, Griffler endeavors to demonstrate that African Americans were as important as white actors in this continually fascinating historical drama. Among the first to study the Underground Railroad was Wilbur Siebert whose The Underground Railroad From Slavery to Freedom (1898) first invigorated studies of histories of organized slave flight from servitude. Some forty years ago, Larry Gara (The Liberty Line: The Legend of the Underground Railroad [1961]) contended that Siebert's account exaggerated the impact of slavery. Gara's viewpoint has held credence ever since. Presently, there is ample popular interest in the Underground Railroad, with innumerable guides for towns and states and dozens of children's books on every aspect of its history. Scholars Kathryn Grover, Tom Calarco, and Milton C. Sernett have written fine books illuminating the roles of African Americans as passengers and conductors in the routes along the eastern seaboard.

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