"Few things have defined America as much as slavery. In the wake of emancipation the story of the Underground Railroad has become a seemingly irresistible part of American historical consciousness. This stirring drama is one Americans have needed to tell and retell and pass onto their children. But just how much of the Underground Railroad is real, how much legend and mythology, how much invention? Passages to Freedom sets out to answer this question and place it within the context of slavery, emancipation, and its aftermath." "In this volume, editor David W. Blight brings together leading historians to explore every aspect of the network: the hiding places, the way stations, the daring routes over land and sea, the role of American Indians, and the crossing of borders into Mexico and the Caribbean. What emerges is a new, deeply compelling understanding of slavery and manumission in America. The writers also look at the explosion at the turn of the twenty-first century of interest in Underground Railroad sites." "Published on the occasion of the opening of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati, Ohio, and drawing on documents, broadsides, and photographs from around the country, Passages to Freedom brings home the reality of slavery's destructiveness."--Jacket.