Slavery and the Underground Railroad
The bibliography for slavery continues to grow with contemporary scholarship, including new titles related to Delaware and regional history. This small selection suggests a range of slavery-related titles from the 18th through the 20th centuries. Please consult the recommended search terms in Finding Resources in Special Collections to explore the Library catalog.
Observations on the inslaving [sic], importing, and purchasing of Negroes; with some advice thereon, extracted from the epistle of the yearly-meeting of the people called Quakers held at London in the year 1748. by Call Number: HT 991 .B5 1760Publication Date: 1760Second edition, printed in Germantown, Philadelphia. French immigrant Benezet "adopted the doctrine of the Quakers. His humanity impelled him to attempt an amelioration of the condition of both the Indians and Negroes, by publishing treaties exhibiting the unhappy state to which each had been reduced by the cupidity and neglect of the whites."- A letter from a merchant at Jamaica to a member of Parliament in London, touching the African trade. To which is added, a speech made by a Black of Gardaloupe, at the funeral of a fellow-Negro.Call Number: HT 991 .L47Publication Date: 1709Printed in London.
- Laws of the state of Delaware on slavery, free blacks & mulattos : volumes 1-14, 1700-1874 by Call Number: Folio E 445.D3 W55 1996Publication Date: 2002Delaware Collection.
- A Narrative of Some Remarkable Incidents in the Life of Solomon Bayley by Call Number: E 444 .B38Publication Date: 1825Delaware Collection. First edition.
- An essay on slavery and abolitionism: with reference to the duty of American females by Call Number: E 449 .B415Publication Date: 1837
- My bondage and my freedom : Part I - Life as a slave. Part II - Life as a freeman by Call Number: E 449 .D738 1855Publication Date: 1855
- A House Divided: Slavery and Emancipation in Delaware: 1638-1865 by Call Number: E 445 .D3 E87 1996Publication Date: 1996Delaware Collection.
Slavery and Freedom in Delaware, 1639-1865 by Call Number: E 445.D3 W55 1996ISBN: 0842025944Publication Date: 1996Delaware Collection.
Before the Civil War, Delaware was an important link in the Underground Railroad system of helping fugitives from slavery travel to freedom in Canada. Situated between the southern slave-holding states and the northern non-slaveholding states, Delaware was traveled by hundreds of escaping people each year. They were aided by rescuers who, for religious or moral reasons, opposed slavery.
Though neither underground nor a railroad, the system was named because its activities had to be carried out in secret and because railway terms were used to refer to the conduct of the system. Various routes were “lines,” stopping places were called “stations,” those who aided along the way were “conductors,” and the enslaved individuals were known as “packages” or “freight.” Born into slavery in Dorchester County, Maryland, Harriet Tubman escaped to freedom and was the most famous Black conductor on the Railroad. She often worked in conjunction with conductor Thomas Garrett, a Quaker from Wilmington.
- The underground rail road : a record of facts, authentic narratives, letters, &c., : narrating the hardships, hair-breadth escapes, and death struggles of the slaves in their efforts for freedom, : as related by themselves and others or witnessed by the a by Call Number: E 450 .S85x 1872Publication Date: 1872Delaware Collection. First edition of the classic collection of stories involving escape from enslavement. William Still was a free-born Black man who became an author and abolitionist movement leader in Philadelphia.
Dear Friend by Call Number: E 450 .B46 1997ISBN: 052565156XPublication Date: 1997-02-01Delaware Collection. Based on correspondence between William Still and Thomas Garrett demonstrating the efforts of these two men to help slaves to freedom.
Underground Railroad in Delaware, Maryland, and West Virginia by Call Number: E 450 .S98 2004ISBN: 9780811731430Publication Date: 2004Delaware Collection. In a companion volume to his highly regarded Underground Railroad in Pennsylvania, Switala focuses on the escaped-slave network in the eastern border states.
