The_Autobiography_Of_A_Conductor_

The Autobiography Of A Conductor: Stuart Seely Srague had not expected what he found at the public library in Ripley, Ohio. Dr. Sprague was doing research on the Underground Railroad sites along the Ohio River about two years ago when a librarian handed him a copy of a personal account of a former slave who had been a "conductor" on the Underground Railroad. "I was flabbergasted," recalls Sprague. "When I got hold of it, I knew I had to do something about it." The discovery led to his most recent project: editing His Promised Land: The Autobiography of John P. Parker, Former Slave and Conductor of the Underground Railroad (W. W. Norton & Company). The book, which came out last month (November 1996), is the story of a former slave who dedicated his life to the abolition movement. It is one of the few autobiographies ever found of a black conductor of the railroad. Most other personal accounts were destroyed in the interest of secrecy. Sprague, a professor of history at Morehead State University (Morehead, Kentucky), retired in July 1996. He specialized in American history and became interested in African-American history -- specifically the Underground Railroad -- when he began studying Appalachian history in Kentucky. parker, sprague, parker's, railroad, about, underground, says, autobiography, slave, kentucky, history, research, over, ohio, life, found, two, searching, morehead, manuscript, iron, information, former, conductor, years, writes, worked, work, while, university, took, time, study, story, spent