Dear Friend: Thomas Garrett and William Still: Collaborators on the Underground Railroad

by Judy Bentley

Presents a dual biography of Thomas Garrett, a white Quaker living in the slave state of Delaware, and William Still, a free black man living in Philadelphia, who worked together as friends on the Underground Railroad to help bring slaves north where they could then be free.

128 pages, Hardcover

First published February 1, 1997

About the author

Judy Bentley, retired from teaching at South Seattle College, is an avid hiker and the author of fifteen books for young adults and two guides to historic hikes and walks in Washington State.

Reviews

[Jane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bentley's Dear Friend: Collaborators on the Underground Railroad may not be the best written piece of juvenile literature, but it is certainly extremely informative. The book is full of information about how two men of different races worked tirelessly to free slaves that were brought to the United States by people of different races. Included in this there is a chapter on how Harriet Tubman's efforts were supported by Thomas Garrett, a Quaker, and William Still, an African American working with the abolitionists and various organizations. Still's efforts to keep records of the interviews of those that were helped were later published in the book The Underground Railroad: A Record. After the end of the Civil War, Still championed the right to ride the "bus lines" throughout the city and did what he could to help with civil rights for the Black Americans. Both men not only led productive lives in their quest to free as many slaves as possible at great risk to themselves and their families but found themselves blessed financially as they neared the end of their lives and were remembered with great fondness at their funerals.