Born at the Battlefield of Gettysburg: An Afro-American Family Saga Book

In reading about the history of slavery, one tends to forget the efforts some slaves made to be free rather than waiting for the Civil War. However, Gary Collison's book about Shadrach Minkins is a good reminder of just how difficult it was for slaves to escape the plantation and make a life for themselves in the North or in Canada. Collision does a great deal of research to illustrate not only the life of Shadrach Minkins' but also the struggles of many other slaves who wanted a better life. I was especially interested in his portrayal of how the Fugitive Slave Act worked in Boston and how many residents decided to actively resist the law and aid in the escape even at the risk of prison for themselves. It illustrated to me how some laws will be ignored when they run counter to moral principles of citizens. I was somewhat disappointed, however, that so many of the events in Minkins' life were speculated about by the author rather than being derived from records. Understandably that was not the author's fault but more attributed to the secrecy surrounding his life in the North.