Harriet Tubman: Conductor on the Underground Railroad

Ann Petry

2015년 9월 · Open Road Media

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A New York Times Outstanding Book for young adult readers, this biography of the famed Underground Railroad abolitionist is a lesson in valor and justice.
 
Born into slavery, Harriet Tubman knew the thirst for freedom. Inspired by rumors of an “underground railroad” that carried slaves to liberation, she dreamed of escaping the nightmarish existence of the Southern plantations and choosing a life of her own making. But after she finally did escape, Tubman made a decision born of profound courage and moral conviction: to go back and help those she’d left behind.
 
As an activist on the Underground Railroad, a series of safe houses running from South to North and eventually into Canada, Tubman delivered more than three hundred souls to freedom. She became an insidious threat to the Southern establishment—and a symbol of hope to slaves everywhere.
 
In this “well-written and moving life of the ‘Moses of her people’’’ (The Horn Book), an acclaimed author makes vivid and accessible the life of a national hero, soon to be immortalized on the twenty-dollar bill. This intimate portrait follows Tubman on her journey from bondage to freedom, from childhood to the frontlines of the abolition movement and even the Civil War.
 
In addition to being named a New York Times Outstanding Book, Harriet Tubman: Conductor on the Underground Railroad was also selected as an American Library Association Notable Book.
 

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Ann Petry (1908–1997) is best known for her novel The Street (1946), which sold over one million copies—an unheard of feat for the work of a female African American author at the time. Born in Old Saybrook, Connecticut, Petry was the youngest of three children. She had dreamed of becoming a writer ever since her high school English teacher praised her work. However, at the behest of her family, she earned a degree from the Connecticut College of Pharmacy in 1931 and began working in the family business. In 1938, she married George D. Petry and moved to Harlem in New York City. There, she wrote articles for newspapers such at the People’s Voice and the Amsterdam News, and published stories in the Crisis. She also worked for an after-school program at PS 10 in Harlem. It was her experiences living in Harlem that inspired The Street.

In 1947, Petry moved back to Old Saybrook, where she continued to write for children as well as adults. Her books for young readers include the biography Harriet Tubman: Conductor on the Underground Railroad (1955), and the historical novel Tituba of Salem Village (1955). Her works for adults include Country Place (1947), The Narrows (1953), and Miss Muriel and Other Stories (1971).