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Flee North: A Forgotten Hero and the Fight for Freedom in Slavery's Borderland
A riveting account of the extraordinary abolitionist, liberator, and writer Thomas Smallwood, who bought his own freedom, led hundreds out of slavery, and named the underground railroad, from Pulitzer Prize-winning author and journalist, Scott Shane. Flee North tells the story for the first time of an American hero all but lost to history.
Born into slavery, by the 1840s Thomas Smallwood was free, self-educated, and working as a shoemaker a short walk from the U.S. Capitol. He recruited a young white activist, Charles Torrey, and together they began to organize mass escapes from Washington, Baltimore, and surrounding counties to freedom in the north.
They were racing against an implacable men like Hope Slatter, the region’s leading slave trader, part of a lucrative industry that would tear one million enslaved people from their families and sell them to the brutal cotton and sugar plantations of the deep south.
Men, women, and children in imminent danger of being sold south turned to Smallwood, who risked his own freedom to battle what he called “the most inhuman system that ever blackened the pages of history.” And he documented the escapes in satirical newspaper columns, mocking the slaveholders, the slave traders and the police who worked for them.
At a time when Americans are rediscovering a tragic and cruel history and struggling anew with the legacy of white supremacy, this Flee North -- the first to tell the extraordinary story of Smallwood -- offers complicated heroes, genuine villains, and a powerful narrative set in cities still plagued by shocking racial inequity today.
Born into slavery, by the 1840s Thomas Smallwood was free, self-educated, and working as a shoemaker a short walk from the U.S. Capitol. He recruited a young white activist, Charles Torrey, and together they began to organize mass escapes from Washington, Baltimore, and surrounding counties to freedom in the north.
They were racing against an implacable men like Hope Slatter, the region’s leading slave trader, part of a lucrative industry that would tear one million enslaved people from their families and sell them to the brutal cotton and sugar plantations of the deep south.
Men, women, and children in imminent danger of being sold south turned to Smallwood, who risked his own freedom to battle what he called “the most inhuman system that ever blackened the pages of history.” And he documented the escapes in satirical newspaper columns, mocking the slaveholders, the slave traders and the police who worked for them.
At a time when Americans are rediscovering a tragic and cruel history and struggling anew with the legacy of white supremacy, this Flee North -- the first to tell the extraordinary story of Smallwood -- offers complicated heroes, genuine villains, and a powerful narrative set in cities still plagued by shocking racial inequity today.
352 pages, Hardcover
First published September 19, 2023
About the author
Scott Shane
3 books62 followersScott Shane is a reporter in the Washington bureau of The New York Times, where he covers national security. His new book,
Objective Troy: A Terrorist, A President and the Rise of the Drone
, will be published by Crown/Tim Duggan Books on Sept. 15, 2015. It examines the life and death of the late American-born radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, killed in a drone strike in Yemen in 2011 at the orders of President Obama. In addition to the debate over terrorism and targeted killing, he has written on the National Security Agency and Edward Snowden's leaked documents; WikiLeaks and confidential State Department cables; and the Obama’s administration’s prosecution of leaks of classified information, including a lengthy profile of John Kiriakou, the first C.I.A. officer to be imprisoned for leaking. During the Bush administration, he wrote widely on the debate over torture, and his 2007 articles on interrogation, written with several colleagues, were a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. He has also written on the anthrax investigation, the evolving terrorist threat, the government’s secret effort to reclassify historical documents and the explosion in federal contracting.
From 1983 to 2004, he was a reporter for The Baltimore Sun, covering a range of beats from courts to medicine and writing series of articles on brain surgery, schizophrenia, a drug corner, guns and crime and other topics. He was The Sun's Moscow correspondent from 1988 to 1991 and wrote a book on the Soviet collapse, Dismantling Utopia: How Information Ended the Soviet Union , which the Los Angeles Times described as "one of the essential works on the fall of the Soviet Union." In 1995, he co-wrote a six-part explanatory series of articles on the National Security Agency, the first major investigation of NSA since James Bamford's 1982 book The Puzzle Palace. His series on a public health project in Nepal won the nation's top science-writing award from the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2001.
He lives in Baltimore with his wife, Francie Weeks, who teaches English to foreign students. They have three children.
From 1983 to 2004, he was a reporter for The Baltimore Sun, covering a range of beats from courts to medicine and writing series of articles on brain surgery, schizophrenia, a drug corner, guns and crime and other topics. He was The Sun's Moscow correspondent from 1988 to 1991 and wrote a book on the Soviet collapse, Dismantling Utopia: How Information Ended the Soviet Union , which the Los Angeles Times described as "one of the essential works on the fall of the Soviet Union." In 1995, he co-wrote a six-part explanatory series of articles on the National Security Agency, the first major investigation of NSA since James Bamford's 1982 book The Puzzle Palace. His series on a public health project in Nepal won the nation's top science-writing award from the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2001.
He lives in Baltimore with his wife, Francie Weeks, who teaches English to foreign students. They have three children.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 102 reviews
September 30, 2023
This book introduced me to Thomas Smallwood, a former slave who became an abolitionist and writer. He orchestrated the escapes of many enslaved people, first used the term Underground Railroad, and wrote newspaper articles (in the form of letters) taunting the slave owners. The book is a lot broader than the Smallwood story. It includes the background and contributions of Charles Torrey, a better known abolitionist. And it also tells the story of a notorious slave catcher.
The author benefitted from the fact that both Smallwood and Torrey wrote autobiographies. And that Smallwood’s articles are all still available. They were published under the name Samivel Weller, Jr. It was the Smallwood story that I found the most interesting. Probably because the book’s details on the slave trade have been written about many times before. Smallwood had a writing style that was sharply satirical. His posts incorporated actual notices published by slave owners offering rewards for their runaway slaves. He then proceeded to flaunt his knowledge of the escapes, his speculations on the possible parentage of the slaves and his insider knowledge of the owners. Seven of these articles are included at the end of the book, but they are not in the audiobook version. Two quotes from the articles:
“I, Samivel Weller, Jr. will continue to SCOFF at, annoy, and expose the slaveholders, and their crooked ways, to their perfect mystification and great pain, during weeks and months to come! The ignoramuses! to think to catch such a weasel as I, asleep.”
“I heard him boast that ‘no nigger could ever get away from him!” Ah, you’re not so wise as you thought for; or Mrs. Tilly could never have taken her child out of your very bed room! On reflection, don’t you think it was cruel, Dr. Gunnell, to make that little child, only five years old, lie on your chamber floor, and keep awake to tend your own white baby, while you and your wife slept?”
The book is thoroughly researched and entertainingly written. 4.5 stars
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.
The author benefitted from the fact that both Smallwood and Torrey wrote autobiographies. And that Smallwood’s articles are all still available. They were published under the name Samivel Weller, Jr. It was the Smallwood story that I found the most interesting. Probably because the book’s details on the slave trade have been written about many times before. Smallwood had a writing style that was sharply satirical. His posts incorporated actual notices published by slave owners offering rewards for their runaway slaves. He then proceeded to flaunt his knowledge of the escapes, his speculations on the possible parentage of the slaves and his insider knowledge of the owners. Seven of these articles are included at the end of the book, but they are not in the audiobook version. Two quotes from the articles:
“I, Samivel Weller, Jr. will continue to SCOFF at, annoy, and expose the slaveholders, and their crooked ways, to their perfect mystification and great pain, during weeks and months to come! The ignoramuses! to think to catch such a weasel as I, asleep.”
“I heard him boast that ‘no nigger could ever get away from him!” Ah, you’re not so wise as you thought for; or Mrs. Tilly could never have taken her child out of your very bed room! On reflection, don’t you think it was cruel, Dr. Gunnell, to make that little child, only five years old, lie on your chamber floor, and keep awake to tend your own white baby, while you and your wife slept?”
The book is thoroughly researched and entertainingly written. 4.5 stars
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.
September 19, 2023
I am constantly looking to further my knowledge about slavery and the fight against it, so reading Flee North: A Forgotten Hero And The Fight For Freedom In Slavery's Borderland by Scott Shane was a learning opportunity I could not pass up.
To Kill A Mockingbird has been my favourite book for some time, and just as Atticus Finch represents Tom Robinson in the novel, I was happy to read about many real-life allies and antislavery activists - those willing to help others seek emancipation and freedom from slavery. Charles Torrey was one such man, working alongside Thomas Smallwood (who was absolutely incredible in his own right). The pair (along with others) risked everything to aid those wanting to flee from Washington, Baltimore, and surrounding areas. The bravery they embodied was absolutely incredible.
The audiobook narration was extremely well done; the narrator brought such life and movement to these words while always remaining respectfully tactful. The added newspaper articles and depictions in the physical copy were insightful additions and added interspersed proof of Smallwood's ever-present satirical humour.
I learned a lot from this book. I had no idea that slave families were not kept together as a unit; instead, children and spouses could be separated and sold to others at any time. The constant fear of this happening is insurmountable. I was also clearly naive, as I had no idea what kind of roll Canada had as many escaped, fleeing north along the underground railroad to the freedom present across the border.
Shortly after starting reading this book, I looked up Thomas Smallwood, only to discover that he is buried in the Toronto Necropolis cemetery. I will now make visiting his grave, although not properly marked, a priority in my life.
This book would be a beneficial read to many students and for those looking to learn more about the history of slavery in the Southern United States.
Thank you NetGalley, Celadon Books and Macmillan Audio for the complimentary copies to read, listen to and review.
To Kill A Mockingbird has been my favourite book for some time, and just as Atticus Finch represents Tom Robinson in the novel, I was happy to read about many real-life allies and antislavery activists - those willing to help others seek emancipation and freedom from slavery. Charles Torrey was one such man, working alongside Thomas Smallwood (who was absolutely incredible in his own right). The pair (along with others) risked everything to aid those wanting to flee from Washington, Baltimore, and surrounding areas. The bravery they embodied was absolutely incredible.
The audiobook narration was extremely well done; the narrator brought such life and movement to these words while always remaining respectfully tactful. The added newspaper articles and depictions in the physical copy were insightful additions and added interspersed proof of Smallwood's ever-present satirical humour.
I learned a lot from this book. I had no idea that slave families were not kept together as a unit; instead, children and spouses could be separated and sold to others at any time. The constant fear of this happening is insurmountable. I was also clearly naive, as I had no idea what kind of roll Canada had as many escaped, fleeing north along the underground railroad to the freedom present across the border.
Shortly after starting reading this book, I looked up Thomas Smallwood, only to discover that he is buried in the Toronto Necropolis cemetery. I will now make visiting his grave, although not properly marked, a priority in my life.
This book would be a beneficial read to many students and for those looking to learn more about the history of slavery in the Southern United States.
Thank you NetGalley, Celadon Books and Macmillan Audio for the complimentary copies to read, listen to and review.
December 30, 2023
Thank you Macmillan Audio for accepting my request to read and review Flee North on NetGalley.
Genre: History | Multicultural Interest
Narrator: Rhett Samuel Price
Stars: 3.5
Focusing was difficult. This reads like an academic textbook. I visualized hours in the reference sections of libraries as well as sorting through newspaper archives.
The narrator has a nice voice, however, his performance didn't match my take on the text. There were spots that read like a news story, spots like a documentary and other spots presented like note cards, and perhaps this is what the author wanted; it didn't work for me.
There are a lot of facts. The material is dry. I prefer a smoother presentation with historical content.
I would recommend this for a fact-based smart reader.
This is a review of the audiobook.
Genre: History | Multicultural Interest
Narrator: Rhett Samuel Price
Stars: 3.5
Focusing was difficult. This reads like an academic textbook. I visualized hours in the reference sections of libraries as well as sorting through newspaper archives.
The narrator has a nice voice, however, his performance didn't match my take on the text. There were spots that read like a news story, spots like a documentary and other spots presented like note cards, and perhaps this is what the author wanted; it didn't work for me.
There are a lot of facts. The material is dry. I prefer a smoother presentation with historical content.
I would recommend this for a fact-based smart reader.
This is a review of the audiobook.
January 2, 2024
I understand why this is publishers weekly top 10 books of the year. Flea north is a biography of an abolitionist named Thomas Smallwood set in the 1840s. I had no idea about his story, and I was so glad to read it, and educated myself about some of the heroes in history.
October 22, 2023
I grew up in the DC area and lots of the information in here is a revelation. It’s really the story of three men: Thomas Smallwood- African American cobbler; Charles Torrey- abolitionist publisher; and Hope H. Slatter- slave trader.
Smallwood is the man who coined the term “underground railroad.” He was quite the provocateur of the slave owners as he organized numerous freedom runs of runaway slaves while also writing a column in an abolitionist newspaper that taunted the slave owners with their secrets and hypocritical beliefs. He was social media before that term existed. No one knew his identity. He’s never been given his due and no pictures exist of him.
Smallwood and Torrey worked together for two years in the 1840’s. Finally they had to flee north. Torrey came back and was jailed and died in a Maryland prison.
Slatter made millions selling slaves South. He was mocked and reviled by Torrey and Smallwood but was never accepted into society. Even the slave owners found slave traders vile. He moved from Baltimore to Richmond and finally to Mobile.
Eye opening and well written.
September 23, 2023
In the book flee north we learn about the life of Thomas Smallwood A man born into slavery and even bought his own freedom his owners told him to read at an early age in the early 1800s and he was treated like a carnival attraction because he was a black boy who could read. After buying his freedom he moved to Washington DC and after meeting another abolitionist is a white man name Mr. Tori. They would create a newspaper for abolitionist and the cause and their main enemy was A Maryland slave traitor name Hope Slater he even had a showroom down in New Orleans. Although Mr. Slater wanted to be seen as a respectable businessman due to the gross way he got his money he never quite made it but as a slave trader he was very popular. He would buy men women and children no questions asked and this is why he found his self in the court room multiple times throughout his seedy career. While Mr. Slater was procuring slaves Mr. Smallwood and Mr. Tori were setting them free they were the ones who created the Underground Railroad although Mr. Smallwood was the one who not only coined the phrase but went on many night journeys to help free slaves it would be the more palatable white Mr. Tori who got the credit something Mr. Smallwood never publicly begrudge Mr. Tori who died in prison for the cause. While Mr. Smallwood lived out his ears with his family in Canada a decision he never regretted throughout the book with hear horrible stories but even if the reader has just slight empathy for others will cause you to be angry the horrible ways they trick people into slavery or even back into slavery after being free it’s just mine boggling it makes you wander what would cause someone to turn on fellow humans in such a gross manner. From slavers getting black men to pretend to be running from slavery and then the ones that help them or cold and sold into slavery to offering people work on the ship and when they’re on board taking off to sell them into slavery it’s just horrible and it’s made me so angry how people could be this way teach other this book is so good but very emotional I have never heard of Thomas Malwood before but I am so glad the author Scott Shane soft it to write his story because it was so good and sad and infuriating but a book that I found hard to stop listening to. I thought the narrator did an awesome job and loved his narration. This was a phenomenal book I want to think McMillan audio and net Galley for my free arc copy please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.
November 2, 2023
Me gustan los libros históricos que me permiten ampliar un poco la visión sobre algún acontecimiento. En este caso se trata de la esclavitud de los negros en Estados Unidos. En general fue interesante conocer cómo muchos empresarios no querían perder a sus esclavos para poder seguir produciendo algodón. También desconocía toda la migración que hubo hacia Canadá por parte de los negros para encontrar un país en el que valoraban más sus derechos.
Realmente es un héroe poco conocido el personaje de Thomas Smallwood quien luchó por la libertad de los negros. El libro de Scott Shane cuenta la historia de uno de esos personajes olvidados, también se habla de la red llamada 'ferrocarril subterráneo' que ayudó a muchos esclavos a abandonar sus tierras en busca de un mejor futuro.
Me impresionó como muchos otros países habían abolido la esclavitud y Estados Unidos seguía manteniéndola por diversos motivos, casi siempre intereses de producción y el enriquecimiento. El libro nos sitúa en el siglo 20 y nos encontraremos con personajes muy bien escritos que han sido documentados gracias a cartas y archivos de periódicos.
También conoceremos muchos detalles del "Ferrocarril Subterráneo", una red de rutas secretas y casas seguras de activistas que ayudaron a los negros a buscar la libertad en el norte. Hay mucha investigación minuciosa para poder dar forma a este libro. Está narrado de una manera emocionante para entender la historia de Thomas Smallwood, un negro esclavo en Maryland que a sus 30 años compró su libertad, y Charles Torrey un blanco de Nueva Inglaterra que también aportó a la causa.
Aunque la mayoría de negros de la época escaparon por cuenta propia, nadie creó una mejor simbiosis que los personajes de Smallwood y Torrey que dedicaron su vida a las fugas masivas de personas. Liberando a unas 400 personas. Esta obra trata de dar voz a dos personajes que son poco conocidos por la historia.
Recomiendo el libro a toda persona que quiera conocer un poco más de la historia más cruel de Estados Unidos. Un libro de fácil lectura, rápido y con una prosa sencilla. Aprendí bastante y creo que “Flee North” es una historia heróica que merece por lo menos un 4/5.
Realmente es un héroe poco conocido el personaje de Thomas Smallwood quien luchó por la libertad de los negros. El libro de Scott Shane cuenta la historia de uno de esos personajes olvidados, también se habla de la red llamada 'ferrocarril subterráneo' que ayudó a muchos esclavos a abandonar sus tierras en busca de un mejor futuro.
Me impresionó como muchos otros países habían abolido la esclavitud y Estados Unidos seguía manteniéndola por diversos motivos, casi siempre intereses de producción y el enriquecimiento. El libro nos sitúa en el siglo 20 y nos encontraremos con personajes muy bien escritos que han sido documentados gracias a cartas y archivos de periódicos.
También conoceremos muchos detalles del "Ferrocarril Subterráneo", una red de rutas secretas y casas seguras de activistas que ayudaron a los negros a buscar la libertad en el norte. Hay mucha investigación minuciosa para poder dar forma a este libro. Está narrado de una manera emocionante para entender la historia de Thomas Smallwood, un negro esclavo en Maryland que a sus 30 años compró su libertad, y Charles Torrey un blanco de Nueva Inglaterra que también aportó a la causa.
Aunque la mayoría de negros de la época escaparon por cuenta propia, nadie creó una mejor simbiosis que los personajes de Smallwood y Torrey que dedicaron su vida a las fugas masivas de personas. Liberando a unas 400 personas. Esta obra trata de dar voz a dos personajes que son poco conocidos por la historia.
Recomiendo el libro a toda persona que quiera conocer un poco más de la historia más cruel de Estados Unidos. Un libro de fácil lectura, rápido y con una prosa sencilla. Aprendí bastante y creo que “Flee North” es una historia heróica que merece por lo menos un 4/5.
May 25, 2024
If I was still homeschooling, I would make this required reading for my teens. Excellent biographies and cultural/political history. A rivoting read. I learned so much that really helped me understand my nation's history in a new way, as well as perspective on the present-day issues.
September 12, 2023
Not only did Thomas Smallwood help hundreds of slaves escape to freedom, but he also wrote, mockingly, about his exploits and revealed hidden facets of slaveholders in an abolitionist newspaper AND he also is credited with popularizing the phrase "underground railroad." Scott Shane's Flee North: A Forgotten Hero and the Fight for freedom in Slavery's Borderland is the historical account of Thomas Smallwood. Shane also biographies the white activist, minister and journalist Charles T. Torrey, who collaborated with Smallwood in the 1840s to choreograph mass escapes to the Northern United States and Canada.
Shane begins the account in media res, with Smallwood preparing for a mass escape of 15 individuals, including a five year old slave forced to stay awake all night so the baby of the enslavers (and the parents themselves) could sleep without being disturbed. Shane then takes us through Smallwood and Torrey's upbringings, showing how they both became men devoted to the cause of abolition, for their different reasons, and in turn used their experiences to talk about the wider society of the United States close in the mid 1800s. It is a nation divided, with growing tensions centered on the issue of slavery.
Shane regularly quotes from Smallwood and Torrey's writings, and the appendix collects seven of Smallwood's articles to give the reader a sampling of his work (They've also been digitized and can be searched at digitalcommonwealth.org) . Smallwood wrote under the pen name Samivel Weller, Jr as inspired by Dickens, who also inspired the writing voice Smallwood used. These articles, published after successful escapes, would frequently begin with an escaped slave notice before Smallwood/Welliver expanded on the notices to give the escapee's full name and details about the enslaver's home, such as the possible origin of those paler skinned slaves.
Smallwood's acts are courageous. He was born enslaved, but gained his freedom. he worked as a shoemaker in Washington, D.C until his hidden identity became known and he and his family were forced to flee to Canada. Torrey was an idealist who, arguably, over committed to the cause, possible at the expense of his family. Much of Torrey's work was raising funds, both for his paper and for the money needed to provide shelter, transportation and food for the escapees. Smallwood's work of organizing and often leading the escapes, was at times a cat and mouse game. As his success mounted, more organized resistance to him grew. Working in D.C. he was close to the Mason-Dixon line, delineating the North/South divide. Several of the small towns detailed are familiar to me.
Both Torrey and Smallwood would write auto-biographies that helped in the writing of this work. Torrey seemed the better remembered, but Flee North emphasizes the accomplishments of Smallwood in their partnership.
An elucidating look at mid 1800s America, that highlights the central issue of the Civil War: slavery. Shane lets Torrey and Smallwood speak in their own words, and Smallwood would not be surprised that race is still an issue in today's America. Shane's extensive research is detailed in the afterword, as well as his path to discovery. This work grapples with the desire to turn away from what makes us uncomfortable. As stated in the Acknowledgements "Black Americans did not own themselves, sell themselves, rape themselves, or ship themselves south." (eBook location 4839) One cannot separate history by Black or White and still speak of the history of the United States.
I received a free digital version of this Ebook via NetGalley thanks to the publisher.
Shane begins the account in media res, with Smallwood preparing for a mass escape of 15 individuals, including a five year old slave forced to stay awake all night so the baby of the enslavers (and the parents themselves) could sleep without being disturbed. Shane then takes us through Smallwood and Torrey's upbringings, showing how they both became men devoted to the cause of abolition, for their different reasons, and in turn used their experiences to talk about the wider society of the United States close in the mid 1800s. It is a nation divided, with growing tensions centered on the issue of slavery.
Shane regularly quotes from Smallwood and Torrey's writings, and the appendix collects seven of Smallwood's articles to give the reader a sampling of his work (They've also been digitized and can be searched at digitalcommonwealth.org) . Smallwood wrote under the pen name Samivel Weller, Jr as inspired by Dickens, who also inspired the writing voice Smallwood used. These articles, published after successful escapes, would frequently begin with an escaped slave notice before Smallwood/Welliver expanded on the notices to give the escapee's full name and details about the enslaver's home, such as the possible origin of those paler skinned slaves.
Smallwood's acts are courageous. He was born enslaved, but gained his freedom. he worked as a shoemaker in Washington, D.C until his hidden identity became known and he and his family were forced to flee to Canada. Torrey was an idealist who, arguably, over committed to the cause, possible at the expense of his family. Much of Torrey's work was raising funds, both for his paper and for the money needed to provide shelter, transportation and food for the escapees. Smallwood's work of organizing and often leading the escapes, was at times a cat and mouse game. As his success mounted, more organized resistance to him grew. Working in D.C. he was close to the Mason-Dixon line, delineating the North/South divide. Several of the small towns detailed are familiar to me.
Both Torrey and Smallwood would write auto-biographies that helped in the writing of this work. Torrey seemed the better remembered, but Flee North emphasizes the accomplishments of Smallwood in their partnership.
An elucidating look at mid 1800s America, that highlights the central issue of the Civil War: slavery. Shane lets Torrey and Smallwood speak in their own words, and Smallwood would not be surprised that race is still an issue in today's America. Shane's extensive research is detailed in the afterword, as well as his path to discovery. This work grapples with the desire to turn away from what makes us uncomfortable. As stated in the Acknowledgements "Black Americans did not own themselves, sell themselves, rape themselves, or ship themselves south." (eBook location 4839) One cannot separate history by Black or White and still speak of the history of the United States.
I received a free digital version of this Ebook via NetGalley thanks to the publisher.
June 26, 2023
Expertly researched. Thomas Smallwood was a forgotten hero until Scott Shane brought him to our attention. It was Smallwood who named the “Underground Railroad.” He certainly was one of the most daring African American abolitionists. Thank you Celadon Books for granting me this read. All opinions are my own.
September 20, 2023
I love book covers that are meaningful and thought-provoking. I also love it when they reference current or historical events. A little tidbit about the cover of Flee North: it’s a painting by Eastman Johnson, and depicts an enslaved family escaping to the Union lines during the civil war.
As someone who is passionate about history, I am always drawn to unsung heroes and people who have influenced and shaped the world. As such, Pulitzer Prize-winning author and journalist, Scott Shane, tells a powerful story of an extraordinary abolitionist, liberator, and writer Thomas Smallwood who not only bought his own freedom, led hundreds out of slavery, and found the Underground Railroad.
Born into slavery, Thomas Smallwood was a self-educated, free man who was working as a shoe maker. After recruiting a young white activist, Charles Torrey, both men began organizing mass escapes from Washington, Baltimore, and other counties to freedom in the north. Ultimately, Smallwood begins documenting the escapes that he had planned in newspapers and calls slavery “the most inhuman system that ever blackened the pages of history.”
By calling attention to Thomas Smallwood, the author reminds us of the social and cultural attitudes that shaped the issue of racial inequality. As a system designed to dehumanize individuals, I wasn’t aware of the social, psychological or emotional impacts of slavery until we moved here and I learned about it in my high school days, and the Jim Crow laws, and the Civil Rights movement just indicate that the specter of slavery continues to haunt the American story.
Thank you @celadonbooks for the gifted arc!
#FleeNorth #ScottShane #Celadonbooks #Celadonbooksreader #CeladonReads
As someone who is passionate about history, I am always drawn to unsung heroes and people who have influenced and shaped the world. As such, Pulitzer Prize-winning author and journalist, Scott Shane, tells a powerful story of an extraordinary abolitionist, liberator, and writer Thomas Smallwood who not only bought his own freedom, led hundreds out of slavery, and found the Underground Railroad.
Born into slavery, Thomas Smallwood was a self-educated, free man who was working as a shoe maker. After recruiting a young white activist, Charles Torrey, both men began organizing mass escapes from Washington, Baltimore, and other counties to freedom in the north. Ultimately, Smallwood begins documenting the escapes that he had planned in newspapers and calls slavery “the most inhuman system that ever blackened the pages of history.”
By calling attention to Thomas Smallwood, the author reminds us of the social and cultural attitudes that shaped the issue of racial inequality. As a system designed to dehumanize individuals, I wasn’t aware of the social, psychological or emotional impacts of slavery until we moved here and I learned about it in my high school days, and the Jim Crow laws, and the Civil Rights movement just indicate that the specter of slavery continues to haunt the American story.
Thank you @celadonbooks for the gifted arc!
#FleeNorth #ScottShane #Celadonbooks #Celadonbooksreader #CeladonReads
November 8, 2023
Thomas Smallwood. Know this name? He coined the term, "underground railroad". After buying his own freedom, he worked to help hundreds of slaves escape north. This is a must-read, providing a deep look into American history, racism, and slavery.
October 28, 2023
Wow. This book was everything I wanted to read and more.
I found this at my local library, which in itself was kind of crazy to think about, because my library is decidedly far, far right wing in its "non-fiction" books. The only book you're going to find about communism in that library, for example, is "The Anti-Communist Manifesto." The shelves are stacked with Bill O'Reilly's drivel but contain very few books of actual substance and research, and there are so many books proclaiming how democrats and liberals and gay people are evil that it makes my teeth ache at times to scan the newly arrived "non-fiction" books. (There's a reason why I almost exclusively do intralibrary loans.)
So imagine my surprise when I found this gem! I snatched it up right away and devoured it.
Taking us back to the decades before the American Civil War, the author details how an African American man, Thomas Smallwood, helped organize a major branch of the Underground Railroad (and bringing popularity to the name), assisted hundreds of enslaved persons to escape north (mostly to Canada), and then was promptly written out of the historical record and mostly forgotten.
The letters alone in the appendix are worth their weight in gold. Smallwood was pithy and scathing, criticizing not only slaveholders and slave sellers like Hope Slatter (if I believed in a hell, I would send a profound wish that that man was rotting in it this very second), but the racism of white abolitionists themselves, even some of those who assisted in him in his endeavors (particularly those in favor of colonization). They're amazing historical documents, and I'm glad that they weren't lost forever.
Also mentioned is the life of Charles T. Torrey, a white abolitionist who worked with Smallwood at times to help enslaved people flee Maryland and Washington DC.
The author isn't shy about bringing light to the physical, emotional, and sexual torture that enslaved people were subjected to by their so-called masters. Smallwood didn't, either, and it's both sad and amazing to read Smallwood's criticisms of American society and how they STILL apply almost two hundred years later. We have a lot of work to do.
I loved this book so much that I had to purchase a hard copy for my own personal library.
I'd recommend this book to anyone and everyone.
I found this at my local library, which in itself was kind of crazy to think about, because my library is decidedly far, far right wing in its "non-fiction" books. The only book you're going to find about communism in that library, for example, is "The Anti-Communist Manifesto." The shelves are stacked with Bill O'Reilly's drivel but contain very few books of actual substance and research, and there are so many books proclaiming how democrats and liberals and gay people are evil that it makes my teeth ache at times to scan the newly arrived "non-fiction" books. (There's a reason why I almost exclusively do intralibrary loans.)
So imagine my surprise when I found this gem! I snatched it up right away and devoured it.
Taking us back to the decades before the American Civil War, the author details how an African American man, Thomas Smallwood, helped organize a major branch of the Underground Railroad (and bringing popularity to the name), assisted hundreds of enslaved persons to escape north (mostly to Canada), and then was promptly written out of the historical record and mostly forgotten.
The letters alone in the appendix are worth their weight in gold. Smallwood was pithy and scathing, criticizing not only slaveholders and slave sellers like Hope Slatter (if I believed in a hell, I would send a profound wish that that man was rotting in it this very second), but the racism of white abolitionists themselves, even some of those who assisted in him in his endeavors (particularly those in favor of colonization). They're amazing historical documents, and I'm glad that they weren't lost forever.
Also mentioned is the life of Charles T. Torrey, a white abolitionist who worked with Smallwood at times to help enslaved people flee Maryland and Washington DC.
The author isn't shy about bringing light to the physical, emotional, and sexual torture that enslaved people were subjected to by their so-called masters. Smallwood didn't, either, and it's both sad and amazing to read Smallwood's criticisms of American society and how they STILL apply almost two hundred years later. We have a lot of work to do.
I loved this book so much that I had to purchase a hard copy for my own personal library.
I'd recommend this book to anyone and everyone.
December 31, 2023
Decades before Harriet Tubman became a conductor on it, Thomas Smallwood invented and arguably more effectively ran, the “Underground Railroad.”
Then, he bragged about it in an Albany newspaper!
“It was your cruelty to him that made him disappear by that same “under ground rail-road” or “steam balloon," about which one of your city constables was swearing so bitterly a few weeks ago, when complaining that the “d—d rascals" got off so, and that no trace of them could be found!”
A former slave and a shoemaker, who bought his own freedom, he also taught himself to read, write, and become familiar with English literature and some Latin. He partnered with a young white abolitionist, Charles Torrey, who lived in Albany. Living in Washington D.C., Smallwood would help slaves escape and make it to Albany where Torrey would help them continue on to Canada. He also printed Smallwood’s pseudonymously written articles, e.g.
“In the same letter to The Patriot, Smallwood recounted the brief stories of (Richard) Brown and eight(!) others he had recently helped north. One of the fugitives, James Berry had come all the way from Norfolk, Virginia…Smallwood speculated that perhaps Berry had chosen to give up the advantages of enslavement because he had not read about them in the work of one of slavery’s most prominent defenders, the then president of William & Mary college. “Alas, he could not read!”
It’s estimated that Smallwood and Torrey helped about 400 enslaved people escape (for comparison Tubman helped about 70), before Smallwood and his family also escaped, to Canada.
I found the first 2/3 of the book, which primarily focuses on Smallwood, the best book I’ve read on slavery. The last third, focuses on the reckless descent of Torrey (anticipating the passion, but not the violence of John Brown) and the intersecting life of the ruthless slaver, Hope(!) Slater, as he sells thousands of enslaved people to New Orleans, never to heard from again. This section was painful to read, but after all, it is history and a history that I wasn’t aware of. For Smallwood’s letters alone, this book is well worth reading.
Then, he bragged about it in an Albany newspaper!
“It was your cruelty to him that made him disappear by that same “under ground rail-road” or “steam balloon," about which one of your city constables was swearing so bitterly a few weeks ago, when complaining that the “d—d rascals" got off so, and that no trace of them could be found!”
A former slave and a shoemaker, who bought his own freedom, he also taught himself to read, write, and become familiar with English literature and some Latin. He partnered with a young white abolitionist, Charles Torrey, who lived in Albany. Living in Washington D.C., Smallwood would help slaves escape and make it to Albany where Torrey would help them continue on to Canada. He also printed Smallwood’s pseudonymously written articles, e.g.
“In the same letter to The Patriot, Smallwood recounted the brief stories of (Richard) Brown and eight(!) others he had recently helped north. One of the fugitives, James Berry had come all the way from Norfolk, Virginia…Smallwood speculated that perhaps Berry had chosen to give up the advantages of enslavement because he had not read about them in the work of one of slavery’s most prominent defenders, the then president of William & Mary college. “Alas, he could not read!”
It’s estimated that Smallwood and Torrey helped about 400 enslaved people escape (for comparison Tubman helped about 70), before Smallwood and his family also escaped, to Canada.
I found the first 2/3 of the book, which primarily focuses on Smallwood, the best book I’ve read on slavery. The last third, focuses on the reckless descent of Torrey (anticipating the passion, but not the violence of John Brown) and the intersecting life of the ruthless slaver, Hope(!) Slater, as he sells thousands of enslaved people to New Orleans, never to heard from again. This section was painful to read, but after all, it is history and a history that I wasn’t aware of. For Smallwood’s letters alone, this book is well worth reading.
April 9, 2024
Can I admit how difficult it is to read this book when I grew up and still reside in the Baltimore and DC areas? :/ Oy. All these harrowing and necessary reminders about places I recognize being sites of human bondage. Shane must have felt it, too, since he previously worked for the Baltimore Sun, quoted here being a stalwart defender of slavery.
The subtitle sort of indicates that this book will be one person’s biography—really, it covers biographical details of more than one person—and arguably Baltimore and DC get that distinction as well. At least in as far as the 1840s go.
Perhaps it’s accurate to say that the seeds of the underground railroad took root from a domino effect starting with changing economics in Maryland. The soil was exhausted by cotton, and more planters were switching to easier items that needed fewer hands, like tobacco. This meant planters were selling off some of their enslaved workforce regularly, which led to a boom in the domestic slave-selling market, which led to justified fears from enslaved people about being sold further south away from their families. Thus they were more willing to consider escape. Shane posited that this continuum was a wheel—planters worried their slaves would try to escape (or having caught slaves after attempting to do so) would then sell them south, which would further implant that fear and make enslaved people more inclined to flee.
It’s likely also easier to consider escape when there’s someone with power who’s backing you. Enter Thomas Smallwood, the free Black man who’s ostensibly at the center of this piece, and northern white abolitionist, Charles Torey. Torey, wanting to explore the “radical” side of activism, finds his way down to Baltimore and DC. He’s well-traveled in the north and Smallwood is knowledgeable about the local slave world, making them apt partners get groups of people out.
Smallwood also started publishing a snarky written account of his activities, with bewildered slave owners and their allies. The name “Underground Railroad” came from their befuddlement about where the enslaved people disappeared to. That’s only the tip of the iceberg of Smallwood’s incredible wit and erudition in pointing out America’s hypocrisies. As he wrote in his own memoir: “This may afford the reader a glimpse into the abyss of intellectual darkness into which the African race in America has been so long purposefully confined, to serve the avarice and ends of their tyrannical oppressors.”
Born into slavery, Smallwood bought his freedom at an early age. As a free man, he stayed in the DC area for awhile until it was apparent the authorities were on to his illicit activities. Smallwood and his family then took the perilous “underground railroad” journey themselves, and ended up in Toronto.
Smallwood lived long but died in obscurity, unlike Torey who was jailed for helping slaves escape and ended up dying, a martyr, of tuberculosis while behind bars. Shane may have meant this to be a biography of Smallwood, who, as noted, also wrote his own memoirs. And the man’s character certainly jumped to the front of the page, but he was also sharing the stage with a lot of people.
Beyond getting Torey’s life story we’re also introduced to an antagonist—Hope Slater, a domestic slave trader working out of Baltimore. Although desiring to be seen as respectable, people, including slave owners, tended to look down most on the traders. Perhaps this was because they were the most obvious and public example of committing human rights abuses. Slater would move his “purchases” in the middle of the night, when he could, to avoid displays by despairing relatives. Though purporting to run his business by the book, attesting humane treatment, Shane amasses a lot of evidence about the deplorable conditions in the jails Slater ran, and how easily he might buy a person whose legal status is in question.
Smallwood and Torey squared off against Slater, in person and through the written word, and Slater makes a good foil for our protagonist. While one person sought to make money by selling people, the other risked his life to set them free. Shane’s writing about these men and the world they inhabit is rich and detailed.
Maybe I’d still quibble about the fact that Smallwood’s personal life feels truncated in this biography. I wonder how personal he got in his own memoirs. (Shane mentioned he focused much more on his life after slavery than his life during it.) The underground railroad journeys weren’t detailed, but perhaps that’s understandable since in real time the abolitionists would want to keep those details opaque.
I wasn’t a huge fan of the “dialogue” voices the narrator used in the audiobook, but I don’t think I’ll count that as a true criticism. I suppose a bigger one would be maybe Shane could have challenged Smallwood a little more on his worldview. Although Smallwood was very perceptive about U.S. society, his gratefulness for British protection in Canada perhaps blinded him to some of that country’s faults. At one point, Smallwood was concerned about America exporting white supremacy, but I’m not sure Europe, and especially the British Empire needed help in being xenophobic.
Still, as I look back on this book, maybe if it didn’t exactly reveal what I expected it would about aspects of Smallwood’s life, it was certainly a visceral look into a time and place in U.S. history. I’m very impressed with all the research Shane uncovered in telling a compelling, human story. Special props for publicizing what he could about the lives of the enslaved. Many of them can’t be remembered individually, but hopefully, through this book, they collectively won’t be forgotten.
The subtitle sort of indicates that this book will be one person’s biography—really, it covers biographical details of more than one person—and arguably Baltimore and DC get that distinction as well. At least in as far as the 1840s go.
Perhaps it’s accurate to say that the seeds of the underground railroad took root from a domino effect starting with changing economics in Maryland. The soil was exhausted by cotton, and more planters were switching to easier items that needed fewer hands, like tobacco. This meant planters were selling off some of their enslaved workforce regularly, which led to a boom in the domestic slave-selling market, which led to justified fears from enslaved people about being sold further south away from their families. Thus they were more willing to consider escape. Shane posited that this continuum was a wheel—planters worried their slaves would try to escape (or having caught slaves after attempting to do so) would then sell them south, which would further implant that fear and make enslaved people more inclined to flee.
It’s likely also easier to consider escape when there’s someone with power who’s backing you. Enter Thomas Smallwood, the free Black man who’s ostensibly at the center of this piece, and northern white abolitionist, Charles Torey. Torey, wanting to explore the “radical” side of activism, finds his way down to Baltimore and DC. He’s well-traveled in the north and Smallwood is knowledgeable about the local slave world, making them apt partners get groups of people out.
Smallwood also started publishing a snarky written account of his activities, with bewildered slave owners and their allies. The name “Underground Railroad” came from their befuddlement about where the enslaved people disappeared to. That’s only the tip of the iceberg of Smallwood’s incredible wit and erudition in pointing out America’s hypocrisies. As he wrote in his own memoir: “This may afford the reader a glimpse into the abyss of intellectual darkness into which the African race in America has been so long purposefully confined, to serve the avarice and ends of their tyrannical oppressors.”
Born into slavery, Smallwood bought his freedom at an early age. As a free man, he stayed in the DC area for awhile until it was apparent the authorities were on to his illicit activities. Smallwood and his family then took the perilous “underground railroad” journey themselves, and ended up in Toronto.
Smallwood lived long but died in obscurity, unlike Torey who was jailed for helping slaves escape and ended up dying, a martyr, of tuberculosis while behind bars. Shane may have meant this to be a biography of Smallwood, who, as noted, also wrote his own memoirs. And the man’s character certainly jumped to the front of the page, but he was also sharing the stage with a lot of people.
Beyond getting Torey’s life story we’re also introduced to an antagonist—Hope Slater, a domestic slave trader working out of Baltimore. Although desiring to be seen as respectable, people, including slave owners, tended to look down most on the traders. Perhaps this was because they were the most obvious and public example of committing human rights abuses. Slater would move his “purchases” in the middle of the night, when he could, to avoid displays by despairing relatives. Though purporting to run his business by the book, attesting humane treatment, Shane amasses a lot of evidence about the deplorable conditions in the jails Slater ran, and how easily he might buy a person whose legal status is in question.
Smallwood and Torey squared off against Slater, in person and through the written word, and Slater makes a good foil for our protagonist. While one person sought to make money by selling people, the other risked his life to set them free. Shane’s writing about these men and the world they inhabit is rich and detailed.
Maybe I’d still quibble about the fact that Smallwood’s personal life feels truncated in this biography. I wonder how personal he got in his own memoirs. (Shane mentioned he focused much more on his life after slavery than his life during it.) The underground railroad journeys weren’t detailed, but perhaps that’s understandable since in real time the abolitionists would want to keep those details opaque.
I wasn’t a huge fan of the “dialogue” voices the narrator used in the audiobook, but I don’t think I’ll count that as a true criticism. I suppose a bigger one would be maybe Shane could have challenged Smallwood a little more on his worldview. Although Smallwood was very perceptive about U.S. society, his gratefulness for British protection in Canada perhaps blinded him to some of that country’s faults. At one point, Smallwood was concerned about America exporting white supremacy, but I’m not sure Europe, and especially the British Empire needed help in being xenophobic.
Still, as I look back on this book, maybe if it didn’t exactly reveal what I expected it would about aspects of Smallwood’s life, it was certainly a visceral look into a time and place in U.S. history. I’m very impressed with all the research Shane uncovered in telling a compelling, human story. Special props for publicizing what he could about the lives of the enslaved. Many of them can’t be remembered individually, but hopefully, through this book, they collectively won’t be forgotten.
January 17, 2024
The book is primarily about three men; Thomas Smallwood, Charles Torrey and Hope H. Slatter.
Thomas was born into slavery and was educated, working as a shoemaker and was free by the 1840s. He led hundreds of slaves to freedom in Canada. He also wrote scathing and satirical responses to ads taken out in the papers from slave owners missing their slaves and offering rewards, the police and slave traders. He wrote under a pen name and was never detected. He risked his own freedom and there isn’t even a known photo of him.
Charles Torrey was a young activist that helped Thomas with these mass escapes. His life sadly ended in a prison and he died of tuberculosis.
Hope H. Slatter was a despicable slave trader who made his entire fortune off the men, women and children sold into slavery. He ended up dying of yellow fever. There is a huge marble “Family Tomb of Hope H. Slatter in Mobile. His family fought over his estate for years after his death. All money hungry. This man was responsible for thousands of deaths, separation of families, rape, and torture to name only a few.
This book was incredibly well researched. While it took me a good amount of time to get through it (there was so much information!) I enjoyed learning about Smallwood and his (what I think anyway) remarkable life.
Thank you to Celadon books for the ARC.
Thomas was born into slavery and was educated, working as a shoemaker and was free by the 1840s. He led hundreds of slaves to freedom in Canada. He also wrote scathing and satirical responses to ads taken out in the papers from slave owners missing their slaves and offering rewards, the police and slave traders. He wrote under a pen name and was never detected. He risked his own freedom and there isn’t even a known photo of him.
Charles Torrey was a young activist that helped Thomas with these mass escapes. His life sadly ended in a prison and he died of tuberculosis.
Hope H. Slatter was a despicable slave trader who made his entire fortune off the men, women and children sold into slavery. He ended up dying of yellow fever. There is a huge marble “Family Tomb of Hope H. Slatter in Mobile. His family fought over his estate for years after his death. All money hungry. This man was responsible for thousands of deaths, separation of families, rape, and torture to name only a few.
This book was incredibly well researched. While it took me a good amount of time to get through it (there was so much information!) I enjoyed learning about Smallwood and his (what I think anyway) remarkable life.
Thank you to Celadon books for the ARC.
July 25, 2023
Little is known about Thomas Smallwood, born a slave but as a free man risked everything to help slaves and others north to freedom in Canada. He coined the phrase - The Underground Railroad and worked tirelessly by attacking slavers and the people who chased runaway and free men and women holding them in jails before selling them again down south or making them purchase their freedom again. One of the worst was run by Hope Slatter in Baltimore. This very illegal business was carried out in plain sight of the law and rarely was Slatter slowed down by the court system. Smallwood also wrote (using a pen name) scalding editorials about slavery and these slave jails. This is another fine example of a brave man who did not receive credit as did the other abolitionists and is past due for his story to be told. The author shares much information , names and dates but keeps the writing interesting and flowing. My thanks to the publisher for the advance copy.
January 3, 2024
Despite having a history degree, I was fascinated by everything in Flee North because so much of it was new information to me. Despite containing a lot of different figures, Shane makes it easy to keep track of everyone. It's a bit repetitive towards the end, but still very much worth the read. The audiobook was a lovely experience, with a good reader and the right level of respect towards the material to not make it too sensationalized, while still being engaging.
Thanks to NetGalley and Celadon books for giving me an arc in exchange for an honest review.
Thanks to NetGalley and Celadon books for giving me an arc in exchange for an honest review.
August 28, 2023
An amazing historical account of the Underground Railroad. Many shocking revelations were new to me. The politics of the time and what a small group of abolishinists did to save so many and get them to safety in Canada. Strongly suggest reading. Received as an ARC with no expectation of a positive review from Celadon Books.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 30, 2023
An interesting look at Thomas Smallwood whom I’ve never heard about before reading this book.
Shane goes into great detail to showcase the man who climbed the phrase-underground railroad.
His research is thorough and the books adds to the broadening horizons of US history within the context of slavery.
Thanks to Celadon Books for the physical copy.
Shane goes into great detail to showcase the man who climbed the phrase-underground railroad.
His research is thorough and the books adds to the broadening horizons of US history within the context of slavery.
Thanks to Celadon Books for the physical copy.
April 16, 2024
This is some serious history pulled from the records of the past. Kudos to author Shane for bringing this information to light: two very different men work together in the decades before the Civil War to get enslaved people to Canada and freedom. A scholarly work (lots of footnotes!), this nonfiction book is also interesting to read thanks to the storytelling skills of the author, a journalist.
January 19, 2024
So engrossing. This read like an adventure novel but is actual history and the author cites his sources, even including an appendix of the pseudonymous articles published in abolitionist papers. Highly recommend.
February 9, 2024
Great content but poorly written. The author is too focused on imposing his will on the story rather than just telling the story.
April 15, 2024
Well researched.
September 7, 2023
Flee North is the fascinating story of two men that helped formulate the idea of the Underground Railroad with their active efforts to help slaves escape to northern states and into Canada. The two men couldn’t have been more different in both appearance, temperament or the legacy they left behind. Thomas Smallwood was a cautious, middle aged freed man that was forgotten to history, and Charles Torrey was a young, tempestuous white man. The pair somehow connected and forged plans to help slaves escape. Then Torrey moves to Albany to edit a newspaper, and Smallwood continues in their efforts alone in Baltimore just a short walk away from one of the most notorious slave traders in the country. To help draw attention to the plight of the slaves that he is helping, Smallwood taunts the people the slaves escaped from in Torrey’s abolitionist paper. But the net begins drawing closer around Smallwood the longer he operates and as a Black man, he’s at risk of being enslaved himself if they can catch him and prove his role as an accomplice. He and his family escape to Canada, leaving Torrey to take up the mantle of responsibility again, and his life becomes endangered as well. This book draws attention to two things that don’t normally get a lot of attention during the abolition movement. The first is where the idea of the Underground Railroad originated. Just as important, if not more so, is the time it devotes to covering the slave trade within the country-from slave states that bordered free states and the move of people to both fill the demand for labor in the Deep South as well as make it more difficult for slaves to be able to escape to freedom. At points the book seems to drag some and almost get a little too buried in minutiae when it could move at a faster pace, but it’s still really fascinating. A complimentary copy of this book was provided by the publisher. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
August 11, 2023
Slavery was evil and despicable. Any reasonable person would agree. Scott Shane's Flee North adds a new adjective, messy.
Flee North mostly follows the daring adventures of former slave, Thomas Smallwood and his literal partner in crime, Charles Torrey. Both men would actively help slaves flee north towards safer environments in increasingly dangerous ways that would put both men's lives in danger. This conceit is enough for a great book, but what takes it to the next level is Shane's parsing out of just how many different viewpoints came into conflict during this time. Abolitionists were not all the same. Many people understand that, but Shane highlights those major differences while holding up both Smallwood and Torrey as heroes who were not always the easiest to get along with. Everyone could fall under the term, "abolitionist" but they were not all attempting to reach the same goal.
This book is a great read for someone who wants to leave more about the nitty gritty of the Mason-Dixon line during the time of slavery. It adds a tremendous amount of detail that most books skip right over.
(This book was provided as an advance copy by Netgalley and Celadon Books.)
Flee North mostly follows the daring adventures of former slave, Thomas Smallwood and his literal partner in crime, Charles Torrey. Both men would actively help slaves flee north towards safer environments in increasingly dangerous ways that would put both men's lives in danger. This conceit is enough for a great book, but what takes it to the next level is Shane's parsing out of just how many different viewpoints came into conflict during this time. Abolitionists were not all the same. Many people understand that, but Shane highlights those major differences while holding up both Smallwood and Torrey as heroes who were not always the easiest to get along with. Everyone could fall under the term, "abolitionist" but they were not all attempting to reach the same goal.
This book is a great read for someone who wants to leave more about the nitty gritty of the Mason-Dixon line during the time of slavery. It adds a tremendous amount of detail that most books skip right over.
(This book was provided as an advance copy by Netgalley and Celadon Books.)
June 27, 2023
Full review to come.
Thank you to Celadon Books and the Celadon Readers Program for the free copy of this book.
Thank you to Celadon Books and the Celadon Readers Program for the free copy of this book.
September 25, 2023
**I received an audio book version of this from NetGalley as an advanced reader copy. It apparently is not yet available for purchase.***
I was blown away by the story of Thomas Smallwood who, among other things, was the first person to use the phrase, "Underground Railroad" in print to describe the network that supported the escape of enslaved people in the U.S.. Scott Shane has brought us a story I never heard before of this fascinating man. Smallwood was enslaved until he was freed at age 30, per the promise of his enslaver, Ferguson. The thumbnail story of Ferguson is, itself quite interesting. Ferguson taught Smallwood to read, although this was illegal. Smallwood then extensively educated himself. While Smallwood is the focus of Flee North, as we learn of his drive to help as many people as possible escape from the Baltimore/Washington area the story cannot be told without also learning about Charles Turner Torrey. Torrey was a white abolitionist from Boston who partnered with Smallwood in his endeavors, particularly at the beginning of his work.
Key to our comprehension of their work is an understanding of the slave trade at the time. So Shane also delivers a vivid description of a notorious slave trader in Baltimore. Hope Slatter built and owned a slave jail for those being sold (usually to the deep south) for various reasons. Among other things, Shane explains there was an excess of enslaved people in Maryland in the 1830s/40s because tobacco was no longer a viable crop. In addition to that were all the usual reasons we have heard in the past for sales of people: that an enslaver has debts, a particular enslaved person is a "troublemaker" or tried to run away, someone dies and their enslaved people are sold, etc.
Having grown up in an area of Pennsylvania that is (by car) under an hour from Baltimore and home to many "stations" on the Underground Railroad, the geography of Flee North at the start of each trip was familiar. Most of us with any interest in this subject know that The Fugitive Slave Act forced Northern states to support the return of runaways to their enslavers in states that still allowed the practice. Pennsylvania, bordering Maryland to the North, was a fairly friendly state to run to and through. Smallwood and his colleagues routinely went that way, heading to Philadelphia to move people up the coast by boat, train or on foot for Canada.
Smallwood not only took tremendous risks in his actions as a free Black man, but he wrote columns for an abolitionist newspaper Torrey edited in Albany, NY for a period of time. Smallwood, under a pen name, taunted those who lost their "property" to Canada thanks to him. He would name the former "owners" and publicly shame them for how they treated their "chattel." What distinguishes Flee North is that while it certainly describes parts of the journeys and escape routes, it primarily tells us about slavery and the trade in people during a period in the 1830s through the Civil War in one area, Baltimore and Washington. Shane evokes this period and, in particular what life was like for both free and enslaved Black people, the role of the local police in capturing runaways for significant payments, the danger of trusted people turning informers, the political status of slavery in the United States and how attitudes were evolving. The constant snippets about how various well known, powerful people, religious leaders, society folk etc. behaved, the incidents that exposed their true natures, the descriptions of different factions among abolitionists, how those who ran fared in Canada all make this a constantly interesting read. Ultimately, we follow the lives of Smallwood, Torrey, Slatter and their families to the end in an array of experiences that make this read like a novel. Shane, a pulitzer prize winning Washington Post Reporter painstakingly researched this history and writes beautifully. I highly, highly recommend Flee North. Five Stars.
Audio: NO. I cannot recommend the audio version of Flee North. Do not listen to this book as i did. I should say that Rhett Samual Price, the narrator's voice, intonation and emphasis when reading most of the book, the narrative parts, were excellent. But there was too much that was not even adequate:
First, if you are reading nonfiction or any book that names real places or real people, GET THE PRONOUNCIATION RIGHT. How can someone possibly record an entire book without finding out that the capital of New York is pronounced "All-bany" not the name "Al as in Alfred-bany." Chalk on a blackboard folks, because Albany comes up constantly.
I live a block from the Susquehanna River, pronounced, "Sus-kwa-hanna." It, too came up multiple times and was consistently pronounced wrong as, "Sus-kah-hanna." It jarred. Hagerstown, Md. is supposed to be pronounced with a long a, "Hay-gers-town." He pronounced it "Hag" like a witch. All of us who read a lot pronounce many words wrong because we do not look them up. If I were a professional reader, recording for a major company, I would look up names and get them right. It sounds amateurish to go with your best guess when I'd venture to say most people at least know how to pronounce Albany.
Second, someone made a decision that if anything from one word to a whole piece of correspondence was a direct quote, the narrator would voice it as a character, like is done with fiction. I would not have done this with a word or two even if the voicing was well done. It was distracting and disturbed the flow of the book to do this. Worse, this narrator would earn one star from me for his character voices and accents. It made me cringe to hear any first person speech in this history. The narrator seems to be a successful audio book reader but I personally will avoid listening to him again. That's rare for me. I would change my mind in a minute If I knew he would get pronunciations right and either ditch doing voices or learn more about how to create voices and use appropriate accents, Because I would give his narrative reading style (except for mispronunciations) five stars. So, Mr. Price gets 3 stars from me but he needs to become far more professional.
I was blown away by the story of Thomas Smallwood who, among other things, was the first person to use the phrase, "Underground Railroad" in print to describe the network that supported the escape of enslaved people in the U.S.. Scott Shane has brought us a story I never heard before of this fascinating man. Smallwood was enslaved until he was freed at age 30, per the promise of his enslaver, Ferguson. The thumbnail story of Ferguson is, itself quite interesting. Ferguson taught Smallwood to read, although this was illegal. Smallwood then extensively educated himself. While Smallwood is the focus of Flee North, as we learn of his drive to help as many people as possible escape from the Baltimore/Washington area the story cannot be told without also learning about Charles Turner Torrey. Torrey was a white abolitionist from Boston who partnered with Smallwood in his endeavors, particularly at the beginning of his work.
Key to our comprehension of their work is an understanding of the slave trade at the time. So Shane also delivers a vivid description of a notorious slave trader in Baltimore. Hope Slatter built and owned a slave jail for those being sold (usually to the deep south) for various reasons. Among other things, Shane explains there was an excess of enslaved people in Maryland in the 1830s/40s because tobacco was no longer a viable crop. In addition to that were all the usual reasons we have heard in the past for sales of people: that an enslaver has debts, a particular enslaved person is a "troublemaker" or tried to run away, someone dies and their enslaved people are sold, etc.
Having grown up in an area of Pennsylvania that is (by car) under an hour from Baltimore and home to many "stations" on the Underground Railroad, the geography of Flee North at the start of each trip was familiar. Most of us with any interest in this subject know that The Fugitive Slave Act forced Northern states to support the return of runaways to their enslavers in states that still allowed the practice. Pennsylvania, bordering Maryland to the North, was a fairly friendly state to run to and through. Smallwood and his colleagues routinely went that way, heading to Philadelphia to move people up the coast by boat, train or on foot for Canada.
Smallwood not only took tremendous risks in his actions as a free Black man, but he wrote columns for an abolitionist newspaper Torrey edited in Albany, NY for a period of time. Smallwood, under a pen name, taunted those who lost their "property" to Canada thanks to him. He would name the former "owners" and publicly shame them for how they treated their "chattel." What distinguishes Flee North is that while it certainly describes parts of the journeys and escape routes, it primarily tells us about slavery and the trade in people during a period in the 1830s through the Civil War in one area, Baltimore and Washington. Shane evokes this period and, in particular what life was like for both free and enslaved Black people, the role of the local police in capturing runaways for significant payments, the danger of trusted people turning informers, the political status of slavery in the United States and how attitudes were evolving. The constant snippets about how various well known, powerful people, religious leaders, society folk etc. behaved, the incidents that exposed their true natures, the descriptions of different factions among abolitionists, how those who ran fared in Canada all make this a constantly interesting read. Ultimately, we follow the lives of Smallwood, Torrey, Slatter and their families to the end in an array of experiences that make this read like a novel. Shane, a pulitzer prize winning Washington Post Reporter painstakingly researched this history and writes beautifully. I highly, highly recommend Flee North. Five Stars.
Audio: NO. I cannot recommend the audio version of Flee North. Do not listen to this book as i did. I should say that Rhett Samual Price, the narrator's voice, intonation and emphasis when reading most of the book, the narrative parts, were excellent. But there was too much that was not even adequate:
First, if you are reading nonfiction or any book that names real places or real people, GET THE PRONOUNCIATION RIGHT. How can someone possibly record an entire book without finding out that the capital of New York is pronounced "All-bany" not the name "Al as in Alfred-bany." Chalk on a blackboard folks, because Albany comes up constantly.
I live a block from the Susquehanna River, pronounced, "Sus-kwa-hanna." It, too came up multiple times and was consistently pronounced wrong as, "Sus-kah-hanna." It jarred. Hagerstown, Md. is supposed to be pronounced with a long a, "Hay-gers-town." He pronounced it "Hag" like a witch. All of us who read a lot pronounce many words wrong because we do not look them up. If I were a professional reader, recording for a major company, I would look up names and get them right. It sounds amateurish to go with your best guess when I'd venture to say most people at least know how to pronounce Albany.
Second, someone made a decision that if anything from one word to a whole piece of correspondence was a direct quote, the narrator would voice it as a character, like is done with fiction. I would not have done this with a word or two even if the voicing was well done. It was distracting and disturbed the flow of the book to do this. Worse, this narrator would earn one star from me for his character voices and accents. It made me cringe to hear any first person speech in this history. The narrator seems to be a successful audio book reader but I personally will avoid listening to him again. That's rare for me. I would change my mind in a minute If I knew he would get pronunciations right and either ditch doing voices or learn more about how to create voices and use appropriate accents, Because I would give his narrative reading style (except for mispronunciations) five stars. So, Mr. Price gets 3 stars from me but he needs to become far more professional.
July 3, 2024
A biography of two early abolitionists and their arch-rival slave trader. Thomas Smallwood was a freed slave who lived in Washington D.C. in the early 1800s and wrote eloquently and bitingly for abolitionist papers (he was the first one to use Underground Railroad in print). Charles Torrey was a white New Englander who had tried pastor, teacher, and journalist but found his true passion working as an abolitionist. Hope H. Slatter was an ironically named Southern slave trader who facilitated the slave trade within the United States from the North to the South after shipping slaves from Africa was outlawed. Together Smallwood and Torrey worked to orchestrate a number of escapes of slaves to Pennsylvania, New York, and Canada. They didn't just do one or two at a time, either. They would get whole wagon loads of people to freedom. But Slatter would always be at their heals and eagerly sell any escaped slaves no longer trusted by their enslavers to eager new owners in the South. This is the story of the Underground Railroad in D.C. decades before Harriet Tubman or others.
This was an eye-opening, fascinating, and sobering read. I had never heard of any of these men, but Smallwood and Torrey should not be forgotten. Smallwood especially was someone who should not be forgotten for all he did to get people to safety and how he used his rapier whit to write articles in abolitionist papers under a Dickens-inspired pseudonym to taunt, dishearten, and make poignant remarks to enslavers. He and Torrey hoped that slave owners would be disheartened by those who left them and aggravated enough to hire workers instead of using enslaved people and thus slow the slave trade over time. They would also both write commentary on ads placed looking for runaway slaves. This is a whole different kind of method from what later Underground Railroad operatives employed (Smallwood and Torrey set up some of the Underground Railroad lines themselves for the first time) and it was interesting to learn about the origins since later stories are more common. The author also highlights the irony and tragedy of abolitionists and the Underground Railroad being necessary in the capitol of a country that was supposed to be all about freedom. I appreciate the level of research the author obviously did and all the primary sources he quotes. He does a good job of clarifying what we know for sure and what has no clear historical record left behind to know for sure.
Notes on content:
Language: A couple quotes include minor swears or racial slurs.
Sexual content: Shane is clear that many slave owners abused and took advantage of their female slaves. He quotes Torrey writing about the issue. Things are written tactfully and nothing graphic is included while it is very sobering and the tragedy and trauma these women faced is conveyed.
Violence: The physical abuse and fatal ends slaves could face is conveyed but nothing is super graphically described. Again, sobering and heartbreaking, but communicated tactfully. Deaths from diseases and old age are also mentioned.
Ethnic diversity: Mostly Black Americans, White Americans, and Black Canadians.
LGBTQ+ content: None specified
Other: Obviously, racial injustice and racism are main topics.
This was an eye-opening, fascinating, and sobering read. I had never heard of any of these men, but Smallwood and Torrey should not be forgotten. Smallwood especially was someone who should not be forgotten for all he did to get people to safety and how he used his rapier whit to write articles in abolitionist papers under a Dickens-inspired pseudonym to taunt, dishearten, and make poignant remarks to enslavers. He and Torrey hoped that slave owners would be disheartened by those who left them and aggravated enough to hire workers instead of using enslaved people and thus slow the slave trade over time. They would also both write commentary on ads placed looking for runaway slaves. This is a whole different kind of method from what later Underground Railroad operatives employed (Smallwood and Torrey set up some of the Underground Railroad lines themselves for the first time) and it was interesting to learn about the origins since later stories are more common. The author also highlights the irony and tragedy of abolitionists and the Underground Railroad being necessary in the capitol of a country that was supposed to be all about freedom. I appreciate the level of research the author obviously did and all the primary sources he quotes. He does a good job of clarifying what we know for sure and what has no clear historical record left behind to know for sure.
Notes on content:
Language: A couple quotes include minor swears or racial slurs.
Sexual content: Shane is clear that many slave owners abused and took advantage of their female slaves. He quotes Torrey writing about the issue. Things are written tactfully and nothing graphic is included while it is very sobering and the tragedy and trauma these women faced is conveyed.
Violence: The physical abuse and fatal ends slaves could face is conveyed but nothing is super graphically described. Again, sobering and heartbreaking, but communicated tactfully. Deaths from diseases and old age are also mentioned.
Ethnic diversity: Mostly Black Americans, White Americans, and Black Canadians.
LGBTQ+ content: None specified
Other: Obviously, racial injustice and racism are main topics.
September 19, 2023
Celadon Books always, always, always has the best fiction and non-fiction and Flee North: A Forgotten Hero and the Fight for Freedom in Slavery's Borderland is another remarkable book to add to their list of remarkable books. Before reading this book I had never heard of Thomas Smallwood. There are a lot of history books out there describing the underground railroad and slave escape efforts, but none of them I’ve read mentioned this extraordinary man. Author Scott Shane does just that, uncovering the story of Smallwood’s multi-faceted efforts in such a way that you come to know the man, and wonder how history could have overlooked him so. Although the content is not always easy to read, the book itself is; it is so well-written, so informative, so evocative of the times and places, so powerful. A history book, but not the usual dry history book reciting the facts, just the facts, but rather a book that reveals the heroic accomplishments of one brave and resourceful man.
Thomas Smallwood was an abolitionist, a liberator, and a writer who bought his own freedom and then, with Charles Torrey, the young white activist he recruited helped hundreds escape slavery. Together they organized mass escapes from Washington, Baltimore, and surrounding counties to freedom in the north, and very often preventing sale of these humans who were not treated like humans to miserable lives in the south. Although he was well aware of the danger, Smallwood also documented the escapes in satirical newspaper columns, mocking the slaveholders, the slave traders and the police who worked for them hoping to gain more support in the north.
I’m sure we’ve all heard or read about the despicable conditions of slavery, how cruel and inhumane it was, how utterly lacking in guilt or remorse the owners who committed these atrocities were. But having heard about this before does not make each individual story less heart-wrenching or make this book less powerful.
Flee North: A Forgotten Hero and the Fight for Freedom in Slavery's Borderland is inspiring and nearly impossible to put down once you’ve started reading. Another Celadon book that is entertaining, thought-provoking, educational. Thanks to Celadon Books for providing an advance copy of this moving story to me as a Celadon Reader via NetGalley. I voluntary leave this review; all opinions are my own.
Thomas Smallwood was an abolitionist, a liberator, and a writer who bought his own freedom and then, with Charles Torrey, the young white activist he recruited helped hundreds escape slavery. Together they organized mass escapes from Washington, Baltimore, and surrounding counties to freedom in the north, and very often preventing sale of these humans who were not treated like humans to miserable lives in the south. Although he was well aware of the danger, Smallwood also documented the escapes in satirical newspaper columns, mocking the slaveholders, the slave traders and the police who worked for them hoping to gain more support in the north.
I’m sure we’ve all heard or read about the despicable conditions of slavery, how cruel and inhumane it was, how utterly lacking in guilt or remorse the owners who committed these atrocities were. But having heard about this before does not make each individual story less heart-wrenching or make this book less powerful.
Flee North: A Forgotten Hero and the Fight for Freedom in Slavery's Borderland is inspiring and nearly impossible to put down once you’ve started reading. Another Celadon book that is entertaining, thought-provoking, educational. Thanks to Celadon Books for providing an advance copy of this moving story to me as a Celadon Reader via NetGalley. I voluntary leave this review; all opinions are my own.
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