Additional information
by Alicestyne Turley (Author)
Wilbur H. Siebert published his landmark study of the Underground Railroad in 1898, revealing a secret system of assisted slave escapes. Siebert's research relied on the accounts of northern white male abolitionists, and while useful in understanding the northern boundaries of the journey, his work omits the complicated narrative of assistance below the Mason-Dixon Line. In The Gospel of Freedom: Black Evangelicals and the Underground Railroad, author Alicestyne Turley positions Kentucky as a crucial "pass through" territory and addresses the important contributions of antislavery southerners who formed organized networks to assist those who were enslaved in the Deep South. Drawing on family history and lore as well as a large range of primary sources, Turley shows how free and enslaved African Americans developed successful systems to help those enslaved below the Mason-Dixon Line. Illuminating the roles of these Black freedom fighters, Turley questions the validity of long-held conclusions based on Siebert's original work and suggests new areas of inquiry for further exploration. The Gospel of Freedom seeks to fill in the historical gaps and promote the lost voices of the Underground Railroad.
Author Biography
Alicestyne Turley is director of Freedom Stories for the International Storytelling Center in Jonesborough, Tennessee. Turley was an inaugural National Association of Black Storytellers Black Appalachian Storytelling Fellow, the founding director of the Carter G. Woodson Center for Interracial Education at Berea College, and the founding director of the Underground Railroad Research Institute at Georgetown College.
