I’ve Got a Home in Glory Land: A Lost Tale of the Underground Railroad by Karolyn Smardz Frost (review)

June 27, 1844 he was murdered by an antiMonnon mob. Although the book' s length may intimidate a casual reader,serious students of Iormonism : ind midnincteenth century American religious history will find Bushman' s study useful. Glenna R. SchroederLein Abraham Lincoln Presidential Libr: iry,Springfield, Illinois Karolyn Smardz Frost. I' ve Got a Home in Glory Land: A Lost Tale oftbe U, idergi· ound Railroad.New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux,2007. 450 pp. ISBN: 9780374164312, ( cloth) 530.00. In I've Got a Home in Giori,Land· A Lost 71+ le of tbe Underground Rt, 1/ rond,karolyn Smardz Frost uncarths the story (, f fligitive sl· avesIhornton and I.ucie Blackburn. I hud the pleasure of meeting Frost wheii she traveled to I. ouisville to conduct research for this book at numerous repcisitories. 1it She \ vas following , 1 trail p« th· at led her south from Torcinto in search of the Kentucky connection to * an archaeological site she i In had excavated in 1985. Slic described her work, posed her research questions, characterized her working hypothesis, and 1 was hooked. I have been interested in and fascinated bv her research ever since. Her book has not let me dc), vn. Frost chronicles the epic journey of nvi, people who chose the arducius,dangerous c(} urse of escape fronl bond· age 011 the Underground Railroad to avoid sep:nition . Frost' s work has been recognized ti, r its importance with a 2007 Canadian L,overtic> r Gener· al' s 1. iterarv . Aw· ard.in the SPRING 2008 category of English nonfiction . Frost captures our 11iterest immediately duc to her intimacy with the Blackburns'lives,gained first as the archaeologist who excavated their nineteenthcentury holie and later as the historian who undertook exhaustive research in archival sources. Frost's work reveals . 1 story lost to the modern world but for her tenacity. Her public history approach led to public archaeology excavations , presentations to school children atid the cominunity, exhibits, articles, atid now this book. Once buried below the streets of ibronto, the Blackburns' story h·, is been painstakingly unearthed by Frost. ' llie tale chronicles their escape from bond·age in Louisville,Kentucky, to Cincinnati, Ohio, then north to I) etroit, Michig: in, and to freedom. A Kentucky slaveholder' s discovery ofThornton Blackburn in Detroit sparked mob riots that ultimately preserved the Blackburns' freedom. the incident created international controversy, as sympathetic supporters whisked the two across the border into Canada. The request for extradition by the former owners of the Blackburns brought their case before the Canadian courtswhich dismissed the slaveholder' s claimand established a new indmark iii ititeriiatiolial extradition laws. Frost' s biography of the B]ackburns adds flesh to the bones of the stereotype run·away slave"portrayed in fiction and nonfiction . She brings a multidisciplinary approach to the volume,using her skills as archacologist and historian. She also brings a new depth of understanding to the words slave," " fugitive," and " rtinaway."Frost sh: irters the fiinilli; ir literary characterization of " slave," which limits our appreciatien of individual motivation and relegates e:slaved people to an empty,onedimen sional classification. In that portrayal, we are left with an incoinplete comprehension BOOK REVIEWS 95 BOOK REVIEWS of whoni and what thi, se identified, is slaves were. In contrast, Prost 1, ortrays the Blackburns as a committed married couple, entrepreneurial, and socially conscious. In short, the Blackburns defied the classification ofslave. Readers arc forced to ( luestion previous portray. ils of enslaved pec, ple and acknowledge the great di,ersin· witliin tlic legal . 11id economic clissific.itic, 11 of slaT, e. The oniv characteristic the Blackburns had in common with the commonly held image of enslaved people was tlieir initial candition ofixindage and servitude. The Blackburns had no children to carry on their w(, rk, but they left behind wi legacy found in the pages of this book. Most important, their story reveals the complexity and humankv of those held in bondage during the era of slavery in the US. Slavery isa painful menioi·y for those who inherited the legacy and for those whose ancestors perpetrated it. 1ersonaliz. jiig slavery and showitg tliat the Blackburns' hopes : ind dreams were similar to those...