Larry Gara ~ The Underground Railroad: Folklore and History

Our guest today is Larry Gara, Professor Emeritus of History of Wilmington College in Wilmington, Ohio.  He has also taught at many other colleges:  Eureka, Blufton, the University of Delaware, Grove City College, and Mexico City College.  He has written a number of books:

1. The Liberty Line: The Legend of the Underground Railroad
2. The Underground Railroad Handbook (National Park Service), a contributor.
3. The Baby Dodds Story: As Told to Larry Gara
4. The Presidency of Franklin Pierce
5. A Few Small Candles: War Resisters of World War II Tell Their Stories, Compiled and edited by Larry and his wife Lenna Mae.

He has published a multitude of articles in his carreer. Some of them about the Underground Railroad are:

1. The Underground Railroad: Legend or Reality?, Proceedings of the American Philosphical Society, Vol. 105, No. 3 (Jun. 27, 1961), pp. 334-339
2. Friends and the Underground Railroad, Quaker History (Vol. 51, Spring, 1962, No. 1), pp. 3-19.
3. Who was an Abolitionist?, The Anti-Slavery Vanguard: New Essays on the Abolitionists, edited by Martin Dubermaw (Princeton: Princeton Universtiy Press, 1965), pp. 32-51.
4. Brilliant Thoughts and Important Truthes: A Speech of Frederck Douglass edited by Larry Gara (Ohio Journal, Vol. 75, pp. 3-9). This article is online at: http://publications.ohiohistory.org/ohstemplate.cfm?action=detail&Page=00753.html&StartPage=3&EndPage=9&volume=75&notes=notes%2067&newtitle=Volume%2075%20Page%203  

In 1984 Mr. Gara won the War Resisters League Peace Award given by the War Resisters League.  A pacifist of great conviction, Mr. Gara spent 3 and a half years in federal prison for refusing to register for the World War II draft.

Books mentioned in Larry's presentation:

1. The Underground Railroad by William Still (tells many stories of African-American self help when escaping)
2. Reminiscences of Levi Coffin
3. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave, Written by Himself
4. The Life of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass
5. Black Abolitionists by Benjamin Quarles
6. Runaway Slaves: Rebels on the Plantation by John Hope Franklin
7. Four Fugitive Slave Narratives by Robin W.Winks, Larry Gara, Jane H.& Wm. H. Pease, and Tilden G. Edelstein  (There are many other books which relate Slave Narratives.)
8. Hidden in Plain View: A Secret Story of Quilts and the Underground Railroad by Jacqueline Tobin and Raymond Dobard (Larry believes that this book contributes to the mythology of the UGRR but not the realities.) 

For more information about the upcoming conference, Anti-Slavery/UGRR ~ Taking a Risk for Freedom, and related activities in April 2007, please click on:

Schedule & Registration Form for Anti-Slavery ~ Taking a Risk for Freedom~ PDF File

Registration Form for the April 26, 2007 Tour of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center ~   PDF File

Photo Credit:  Randy Sarvis of Wilmington College, Wilmington, Ohio.

Our intro music is Mozart's Violin Concerto in G, Third Movement Rondeau, K 216, performed by David Oistrakh.  Used with permission, see Internet Archive, http://www.archive.org/index.php.

 
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