The Underground Railroad: A Selected Reading List

*All items listed below are available for consultation in Hege Library, Guilford College, Greensboro, NC. Many are also available in other libraries and some are still in print and available for purchase. This is only a selected list of recommended sources.

All of the book titles listed below can be located in the library's online. Additional titles can be located by searching under the following subjects: 

  • Underground Railroad
  • Fugitive Slaves
  • Antislavery Movements
  • Abolitionists

Reference Collection

  • Blockson, Charles L. Hippocrene Guide to the Underground Railroad. Hippocrene Books, 1994. [Ref] E450 .B65 1994
  • Finkelman, Paul and Joseph Calder Miller. Macmillan Encyclopedia of World Slavery. Macmillan Reference, c1998. [Ref] HT861 .M24 1998

Juvenile Collection

  • Hamilton, Virginia. Many Thousand Gone: African Americans from Slavery to Freedom. Knopf, c1993. Juv E450 .H23 1993
  • Weatherford, Carole Boston. Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom. Hyperion Books for Children, c2006. Juv E444.T82 W43 2006x
  • In addition, there are a number of books written for young people in the Friends Historical Collection. Most are shelved alongside other books on this topic at [Quaker] E450.

Main Collection

  • Bordewich, Fergus M. Bound for Canaan : The Underground Railroad and the War for the Soul of America. Amistad, c2005. E450 .B735 2005
  • Buckmaster, Henrietta. Let My People Go : The Story of the Underground Railroad and the Growth of the Abolition Movement. Harper & Brothers, c1941. E450 .B89 1941
  • Still, William. The Underground Rail Road; A Record of Facts, Authentic Narratives, Letters, &c. Johnson Publishing Company, 1970. E450 .S85 1970
  • Tobin, Jacqueline. Hidden in Plain View: The Secret Story of Quilts and the Underground Railroad. Doubleday, 1999. E450 .T63 1999
  • See also additional titles located at E450 and also E441, E446, and E449.

Friends Historical Collection

  • Beal, M. Gertrude. "The Underground Railroad in Guilford County,"  The Southern Friend (1980), 18 -- 28. [Quaker] Periodicals
  • Blockson, Charles L. The Underground Railroad. Prentice-Hall Press, c1987. [Quaker] E450 .B66 1987
  • Bordewich, Fergus M. Bound for Canaan : The Underground Railroad and the War for the Soul of America. Amistad, c2005. [Quaker] E450 .B735 2005
  • Breyfogle, William A. Make Free; The Story of the Underground Railroad. Lippincott, 1958. [Quaker] E450 .B82
  • Coffin, Addison. Life and Travels of Addison Coffin. William G. Hubbard, 1897. [Quaker] CT275 .C662 A3
  • Coffin, Levi. Reminiscences of Levi Coffin, the Reputed President of the Underground Railroad. Friends United Press, 1991. [Quaker] E450 .C64 1991
  • Coffin, Levi. Reminiscences of Levi Coffin, the Reputed President of the Underground Railroad. R. Clarke & Co., 1880. [Quaker] E450 .C65
  • Danforth, Mildred E. A Quaker Pioneer: Laura Haviland, Superintendent of the Underground. Exposition Press, 1961. [Quaker] E450 .D26
  • Gara, Larry. The Liberty Line:  The Legend of the Underground Railroad. University of Kentucky Press, 1961. [Quaker] E450 .G22
  • Haviland, Laura S. A Woman's Life-Work: Labors and Experiences of Laura S. Haviland. Walden & Stowe, 1882. [Quaker] E450 .H38
  • Hilty, Hiram H. By Land and By Sea: Quakers Confront Slavery and Its Aftermath in North Carolina. North Carolina Friends Historical Society, 1993. [Quaker] E 445 .N8 H54 1993

  • McGowan, James A. Station Master on the Underground Railroad: The Life and Letters of Thomas Garrett. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, 2005. [Quaker] E450.G23 M32 2005

    *The Friends Historical Collection has also has many titles about Quaker involvement in anti-slavery and abolitionist activities other than the Underground Railroad. Check the online catalog or contact us for additional assistance.