Freedom Roads: Searching for the Underground Railroad

by Joyce Hansen, Gary McGowan

The Underground Railroad was meant to be a set of secret pathways, and its traces have been obscured by time. But Joyce Hansen and Gary McGowan, who won a Coretta Scott King Honor for their previous book, show how archaeologists and historians sift through corn cobs and root cellars, study songs and quilts, and use the latest technology to reconstruct those heroic journeys. Freedom Roads offers both a fresh look at the escape routes from slavery and an introduction to the tools, methods, and insights of archaeology, anthropology, and historical conservation. Here is a modern-day detective story that uncovers the traces of a time in American history when courageous slaves and idealistic abolitionists defied the law and saved lives.

Genres: Nonfiction, History

166 pages, Hardcover

First published March 12, 2003

About the author

Joyce Hansen has been writing books and stories for children and young adults for over twenty years. Joyce was born and raised in New York City, the setting of her early contemporary novels. She grew up with two younger brothers and her parents in an extended family that included aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents, all living nearby in the Morrisania section of the Bronx.

Attending Bronx public schools, she graduated from Theodore Roosevelt High School in 1960. While working secretarial jobs during the day, Joyce attended Pace University in New York City at night, receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree. She then began her teaching career in the New York City public schools and earned a Master of Arts degree from New York University. She also taught writing and literature at Empire State College (State University of New York).

Joyce’s first children’s book, The Gift-Giver, published in 1980, was inspired by her own Bronx childhood and by her students. She continued to teach and write until retiring from teaching in 1995. Joyce Hansen presently lives in South Carolina with her husband and writes full-time.

Reviews

[Krystie Herndon · Rating 5 out of 5]

You know, while we adults are not averse to settling for trash to read, writers who respect children's minds, hearts, and souls work hard to appeal to children's souls with good stories, while filling their minds with the tools to help children answer all the "why" questions that children tend to have. The authors of this book endeavored to demonstrate how anthropologists, folklorists, and historians continue to dig for nuggets of truth, in the saga that was the Underground Railroad, and to seek new veins of rich ore that lie deep in the hidden history of our country. I highly recommend this book to teachers and parents, and to curious kids of all ages.

[Zhanghuangcheng · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is interesting, the book are experience some place evens of freedom. Forever, The book is around with freedom roads. There has so many freedom about roads...