Charles Ludwig

Levi Coffin and the Underground Railroad - Princeton Theological Monograph Charles Ludwig

'Levi Coffin and the Underground Railroad' recreates the human drama, pathos, excitement, and danger surrounding the attempts of American blacks in the 1800s to find release from oppression in the South. With cruelty to slaves indelibly impressed on his mind as a child, young Levi Coffin, a Quaker, was determined to spend his life improving their lot. In spite of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1793, he took seriously the admonition of Deuteronomy 23:15: Thou shalt not deliver unto his master the servant which is escaped from his master unto thee. Levi appealed to the consciences of fellow Quakers. He and his wife, Catherine, provided refuge, food, and moral support in their home during several decades for a stream of some 3,000 runaways headed for Canada. One of the slaves the Coffins assisted, Eliza Harris, became the leading character in Harriet Beecher Stowe's influential novel, 'Uncle Tom's Cabin'. Frustrated by Coffin's successful efforts to help fugitives elude recapture, slave-hunters nicknamed him President of the Underground Railroad. The network of cooperative homes became known as stations or depots, the wagons as trains, the drivers as brakemen or firemen, and the hosts along the way as stationmasters or conductors. This book presents Levi Coffin's experiences in a way that will capture the interest and admiration of young and old alike.