Bound for glory...

The Underground Railroad in the Adirondack Region, McFarland & Company, Inc. Publishers, 2004, 293 pgs., $45.00; $49.00 (postpaid price)

The Underground Railroad in the Adirondack Region tells the familiar story of the Underground Railroad, from a very unfamiliar, yet historical perspective: from the northern parts of New York. The book's author, Calarco opens the book by explaining why such perspective is needed.

"The legend of the Underground Railroad in northern New York has lingered long in the memory of its people despite its omission from the history books."

Calarco's attempt to justify New York's history as an active participant and powerful force in the Underground's movement is a successful one.

The author takes the reader through the various New York counties and burroughs that were bursting at the seams with passionate abolitionists such as the infamous John Brown.

Brown who has been viewed by most historians as a maniacal figure that emerged from the movement, unfortunately receives a similar treatment at the hand of Calarco.

"Enraged, Brown vowed to inflict a savage blow that would strike fear into the hearts of the pro-slavery forces and regain the momentum for anti-slavery." With Brown, Calarco misses a golden opportunity to shed a different light on the subject of the no-nonsense abolitionist.

Granted, Brown and his sons Jason, John Jr., and Fredrick used extreme and most times violent measures to get their anti-slavery message across, most historians and authors fail to mention or mention rather highhandedly that Brown was an avowed Christian and a minister of the gospel. Calarco briefly touches on the matter, but does acknowledge, "After going off alone to talk to God--Brown claimed that he communed with God and saw visions that guided his actions..."

But, Brown aside, Calarco also highlights other giants during the movement such as Sojourner Truth, Frederick Douglass and William Lloyd Garrison. Calarco discusses how such figures either campaigned in New York for the abolition of slavery in the South or spent time working with abolitionists in New York that have gone unrecognized in the history books.

The book is a hodge-podge of maps and photos that depict the Underground Railroad's map through counties such as North Elba (where Brown lived before he and his sons started a mass rebellion in the South), Albany, Troy, Warren, Saratoga, Washington, Clinton and Greenwich--a few counties that make up the Adirondack Region.

The book also gives insight into the daily battles of Blacks, which Calarco explains in the preface was used instead of African American due to, "an effort to use a more inclusive term, which was brought to my attention by persons of color who do not consider themselves African in any way."

Surprisingly, the throes of everyday life for Blacks in the early 1800s were not all that different from that of most Blacks, today some 200 years later. The most pressing issues of quality education, economic equality, racism and self-determination abounded.

The book also pinpoints how although the Underground Railroad was likened unto a "Promised Land" for Blacks, once Blacks made the "exodus" to the Northern cities, in many cases their woes had just begun.

Calarco highlights a quote by William Lloyd Garrison to clarify the problems of "runaway slaves." "Fugitive slaves who succeed in making their way to the free states quickly learn that they were not yet in the Promised Land. Work was hard to come by... Wages were 'unusually low and uncertain' and Northerners kept a greater distance from the Negroes and insulted them more about their color... There is no reason to believe that at that time prejudice [against Blacks] was stronger in the South than in the North."

And, unfortunately in 2004 Calarco accurately draws the correlations of a historical time and the present day in which we live.

Despite major gains during the Civil Rights Movement and certain political gains, Blacks rather, African Americans still have yet to overcome the issues of their forefathers as the struggle continues.

I recommend Calarco's book not based on any tremendous revelations, his literary savvy or acumen as a writer, these are irrelevant. What is relevant is that perhaps this book can inspire and galvanize today's generation, so that in 2204 the unrelenting issues of the struggle are just as this book should be, a historical review.

Article copyright Sengstacke Enterprises, Inc.