Eric Foner Gateway To Freedom Analysis

In Gateway to Freedom, the Hidden History of the Underground Railroad by author Eric Foner, several issues are addressed including, the dangers of trying to escape, and the problems that were faced after finally escaping and leaving family behind. Throughout Gateway to Freedom, Foner’s main focus is on how the Underground Railroad worked, as well as how they thought they didn’t have to be as active as they had been in the past because a war was coming. The rise of the Abolitionist movement started during the 1850s with Frederick Douglass’ escape. While trying to escape Douglass come across David Ruggles, who was the only agent of the Underground Railroad he had come across during his escape (Foner, 2015, 6). The popularity of the Underground Railroad began to grow with newspapers beginning to write about it more …show more content…
Fountain’s Schooner” written by William Still, Sydney Howard Gay’s records, and many more (Foner, 2015, 194). These types of records are appropriate for the monograph because it is based on facts as well as telling the story of the Underground Railroad. Eric Foner’s work relates to an essay by Henrietta Buckmaster, titled The Underground Railroad. Buckmaster writes that several people who opposed slavery were of all kinds, black, white, men and women all wanting to help put an end to slavery for good (Buckmaster, 1938,1). Gateway to Freedom also relates to Larry Gara’s essay “Friends and the Underground Railroad”. Gara states that the underground railroad was very organized, with telegraphs going back and forth to notify others within the organization of slaves that were supposed to be arriving in the area and need assistance (Gara, 1962,1). Foner states several times throughout the monograph that the organization had ways of communicating with others involved, he also states that there are always people of all races and religions that wanted to