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President of the Underground Railroad: A Story About Levi Coffin
FOR USE IN SCHOOLS AND LIBRARIES ONLY. Presents the biography of a Quaker man from North Carolina, whose fearless work on the Underground Railroad in Indiana and Ohio helped thousands of men and women escape the cruelty of slavery.
64 pages, Library Binding
First published January 1, 2001
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
February 10, 2020
President of the Underground Railroad: A story about Levi Coffin is a revealing biography about a man who helped thousands of runaway slaves. This is a great book for 4th or 5th graders, because it allows an insight into what life was like for white people struggling to help free slaves in a time that looked down upon the helpers as much as the runaways. I was also able to connect to this book because of where it took place, in North Carolina, which is where I currently reside. So this book was able to provide me with some local history within the larger picture of abolishing slavery.
Teachers can use this book in their classrooms, especially in a history unit, to showcase the inequalities that our country have been built upon. A teacher can use this book to have students compare and contrast the inequalities that plague our country then and now. After students come up with what inequalities are still being shown today, they can then come up with ideas on how they can make the change for equality for all.
Another way that a teacher can use this book is for Reader's Theater. By having students act out (within reason, ie: no physical punishment) some of the events that happened in Levi's life, it helps reinforce a student's learning by living history. Afterwards students will have a deeper understanding of why some people in our country wanted slavery abolished and how that was accomplished.
A third way that a teacher can use this book, along with other biographies, is comparing how life differed for those with the same goal: abolishing slavery. The students will be grouped together and each group will read a biography from someone who was working to free slaves. After reading the biographies, the students will take turns telling the whole class how their person they read about helped out and afterwards the class will come up with the similarities and differences on how those people helped and show how each person differed or was similar (for example, the similarities and differences between Levi Coffin and Harriet Tubman).
This book was a Wow! Book for me because I never learned of any particular people that helped the Underground Railroad. My experience of learning about slavery and the abolitionists in school essentially started and ended with just Harriet Tubman and Abraham Lincoln. It is heartening to read about those that helped out even at great cost to themselves. Unfortunately, we still need more people like Levi Coffin because although slavery has been abolished in the United States, we are still facing harsh racism and this biography is a great reminder that even if you are not the one suffering, that doesn't mean that you shouldn't stand up for those that are.
Teachers can use this book in their classrooms, especially in a history unit, to showcase the inequalities that our country have been built upon. A teacher can use this book to have students compare and contrast the inequalities that plague our country then and now. After students come up with what inequalities are still being shown today, they can then come up with ideas on how they can make the change for equality for all.
Another way that a teacher can use this book is for Reader's Theater. By having students act out (within reason, ie: no physical punishment) some of the events that happened in Levi's life, it helps reinforce a student's learning by living history. Afterwards students will have a deeper understanding of why some people in our country wanted slavery abolished and how that was accomplished.
A third way that a teacher can use this book, along with other biographies, is comparing how life differed for those with the same goal: abolishing slavery. The students will be grouped together and each group will read a biography from someone who was working to free slaves. After reading the biographies, the students will take turns telling the whole class how their person they read about helped out and afterwards the class will come up with the similarities and differences on how those people helped and show how each person differed or was similar (for example, the similarities and differences between Levi Coffin and Harriet Tubman).
This book was a Wow! Book for me because I never learned of any particular people that helped the Underground Railroad. My experience of learning about slavery and the abolitionists in school essentially started and ended with just Harriet Tubman and Abraham Lincoln. It is heartening to read about those that helped out even at great cost to themselves. Unfortunately, we still need more people like Levi Coffin because although slavery has been abolished in the United States, we are still facing harsh racism and this biography is a great reminder that even if you are not the one suffering, that doesn't mean that you shouldn't stand up for those that are.
April 1, 2023
While I had already heard of Levi Coffin and his work for the Underground Railroad, I knew nothing specific about him or his family. This account was fascinating and showed how complicated it would have been in 1850s America, working to free slaves. Reading of his financial successes and troubles, his wife’s affair (a Quaker woman in the 1800s!? Shocking!), and devastatingly, the Margaret Garner incident which he considered to be his greatest failure, I was riveted by the man and his story.
August 30, 2021
Quick, easy to read story
February 7, 2011
I loved this story. I had never heard of this man until now, but he is an exemplary character in history. I would recommend this book to everyone.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews