Necessary Courage - Iowa's Underground Railroad in the Struggle Against Slavery

During the 1850s and early 1860s, Iowa, the westernmost free state bordering a slave state, stood as a bulwark of antislavery sentiment while the decades-long struggle over slavery shifted westward. When opponents of slavery streamed west across the state to prevent slaveholders from dominating Kansas, Iowans fed, housed, and armed the antislavery settlers. In Necessary Courage, Lowell J. Soike details long-forgotten stories of determined runaways and the courageous Iowans who acted as conductors on this most dangerous of railroads—the underground railroad.

About the author

Now retired from the State Historic Preservation Office of the State Historical Society of Iowa, Lowell J. Soike directed the Iowa Freedom Trail project, dedicated to recovering the history of the underground railroad in the state. Dr. Soike earned his PhD at the University of Iowa and lives in Des Moines, Iowa.

Product details

• Authors: Lowell J. Soike
• Publisher: University Of Iowa Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 01.11.2013
• EAN: 9781609381936
• ISBN: 978-1-60938-193-6
• No. of pages: 304
• Series: Iowa and the Midwest Experienc; Iowa and the Midwest Experience; Iowa and the Midwest Experience; Iowa and the Midwest Experienc
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > History > Regional and national histories; Non-fiction book > History > Miscellaneous