Synopses & Reviews
John P. Parker is one of the few African Americans whose battle against slavery we can now turn to in his own words. He recounts dramatically how he helped fugitive slaves to cross the Ohio River from Kentucky and go north to freedom. He risked his life--hiding in coffins, diving off a steamboat with bounty hunters on his trail--and his freedom to fight for the freedom of his people.
Review
"A rip-roaring adventure yarn. . . . History of the best kind." Nell Irvin Painter
Review
"John P. Parker was an extraordinary man . . . a person who spent much of his life facing racial battles yet saw the world through colorblind eyes. . . . As a slave seeking escape and then as a free man aiding others, fighting 'my own little personal war on slavery,' [Parker] lived a perpetual Perils of Paul and did so with unending zest. . . . Now he can be given his due." Jonathan Yardley
Review
"Riveting. . . . Astonishing and believable." Nell Irvin Painter
Review
"Riveting. . . . Astonishing and believable." Washington Post
Synopsis
In the words of an African American conductor on the Underground Railroad, His Promised Land is the unusual and stirring account of how the war against slavery was fought--and sometimes won. John P. Parker (1827--1900) told this dramatic story to a newspaperman after the Civil War. He recounts his years of slavery, his harrowing runaway attempt, and how he finally bought his freedom. Eventually moving to Ripley, Ohio, a stronghold of the abolitionist movement, Parker became an integral part of the Underground Railroad, helping fugitive slaves cross the Ohio River from Kentucky and go north to freedom. Parker risked his life--hiding in coffins, diving off a steamboat into the river with bounty hunters on his trail--and his own freedom to fight for the freedom of his people.
Synopsis
John P. Parker is one of the few African Americans whose battle against slavery we can now turn to in his own words. He recounts dramatically how he helped fugitive slaves to cross the Ohio River from Kentucky and go north to freedom. He risked his life--hiding in coffins, diving off a steamboat with bounty hunters on his trail--and his freedom to fight for the freedom of his people.
Synopsis
John P. Parker is one of the few African Americans whose battle against slavery we can now turn to in his own words. He recounts dramatically how he helped fugitive slaves to cross the Ohio River from Kentucky and go north to freedom. He risked his life'"hiding in coffins, diving off a steamboat with bounty hunters on his trail'"and his freedom to fight for the freedom of his people.
Synopsis
"Surpasses all previous slave narratives. . . . Usually we need to invent our American heroes. With the publication of Parker's extraordinary memoir, we seem to have discovered the genuine article." --Joseph J. Ellis,