[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 9]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 12786]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




  THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD AND THE IMPORTANCE OF 
                  KNOWING THE TRUTH ABOUT OUR HISTORY

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. CHARLES B. RANGEL

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, June 15, 2005

  Mr. RANGEL. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the first racially 
integrated civil rights movement in this country: the Underground 
Railroad. I recognize the author of the first highly regarded and well 
researched book on this topic to be written in 100 years, Fergus M. 
Bordewich. In ``Bound for Canaan: The Underground Railroad and the War 
for the Soul of America,'' Fergus Bordewich has revealed the truth 
behind the myth of the Underground Railroad. I was privileged this 
evening to host with Senator Charles Schumer of New York a reception to 
recognize the contribution this new book is making to a greater 
awareness and understanding of the history of slavery and racial 
oppression in this Nation and of the heroic efforts of brave Americans 
to resist these evils.
  The myth which generations of Americans have believed is that the 
Underground Railroad was a monochromatic narrative of high-minded 
whites assisting terrified helpless blacks to freedom. This myth 
disintegrates in the powerful true stories of the heroes of the 
Underground Railroad. The railroad was not a system of tracks. The 
railroad consisted of people along routes in rural areas and forested 
areas in cities and on plantations: people who for political and 
spiritual and religious reasons had one goal: to free human beings from 
slavery.
  In ``Bound for Canaan,'' Mr. Bordewich delivers a powerful message in 
the gripping personal stories of the heroes who were the Underground 
Railroad, the slaves and the free. Mr. Bordewich writes in his 
introduction: ``Only recently have African Americans begun to be 
restored to their rightful place at the center of the story. But the 
Underground Railroad is no more `Black history than it is White 
history': it is American history, and it swept into its orbit 
courageous Americans of every hue. It was the country's first racially 
integrated civil rights movement in which whites and blacks worked 
together for six decades before the Civil War, taking great risks 
together, saving tens of thousands of lives together and ultimately 
succeeding together in one of the most ambitious political undertakings 
in American history.''
  This political undertaking has not ended; it has continued. Blacks 
and whites worked together in the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s; 
some paying the ultimate price to bring the freedom that had not yet 
been fully realized in the South because Blacks could not vote. On June 
13, 2005, jury selection began in Philadelphia Mississippi in the Civil 
Rights case against Edgar Ray Killen for the slayings of James Chaney, 
Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner, three young civil rights workers, 
white and black, brutally killed in 1964. Together with thousands of 
others, Black and White, took great risks in the tradition of the 
people who were the Underground Railroad, ultimately bringing the vote 
to the descendants of the slaves the Underground Railroad saved. They 
are not forgotten. People of good will have kept their memories alive 
and their cause alive. The trial now is important because it reminds us 
of the high price of freedom and who has paid that price.
  Emmett Till's case has been reopened and this reopening is important 
for the same reason. He was 14 years old in 1955 when on a visit to his 
relatives in Mississippi he was kidnapped from his uncle's house. When 
Emmett Till's body was found and returned to his mother in Chicago, it 
was so disfigured from beating and torture that his mother almost 
didn't recognize him. She refused offers from the funeral home to clean 
up his battered body. For his funeral, she insisted on an open casket. 
The two men tried for the murder were acquitted by a jury of 12 white 
men. However in a 1956 article in Look magazine, these two men 
confessed to Emmett Till's brutal murder. The article, pictures of 
Emmett Till and the confessions reenergized the Civil Rights movement. 
People all over America were outraged. Artistic works drawing on the 
incident included the first play by eventual Nobel laureate Toni 
Morrison, a poem by Langston Hughes and a song by Bob Dylan.
  On May 10, 2004, the United States Department of Justice announced 
that it would reopen the case, an action that many had been calling for 
to determine if others had been involved in the kidnapping and murder 
of Emmett Till. In October 2004, the Justice Department confirmed it 
was focused on two people who had not been charged in the original 
trial. On June 1, 2005, the body of Emmett Till was exhumed. Through 
the work of many people, Black and White, this child's killers may 
finally be brought to justice.
  On June 13, 2005, the Senate apologized for refusing in the past to 
make lynching a federal crime. This was an important vote for the 
Senate to take. It shows that we as Americans can recognize and take 
responsibility for terrible mistakes of our past.
  It also reminds us that the Underground Railroad was ``illegal'' and 
many who helped slaves to freedom broke the law. Slaves were property 
and were expected to be returned to their owners if discovered 
attempting to run away. The Fugitive Slave Act voted into Law on August 
26, 1850 made anyone who hindered a slave catcher, attempted the rescue 
of a recaptured fugitive, directly or indirectly assisted a fugitive to 
escape, or harbored a fugitive, liable to a fine of up to one thousand 
dollars and six months' imprisonment, plus damages of one thousand 
dollars to the owner for each slave that was lost. Even with the 
enactment of the law, the Underground Railroad continued its work.
  Now we know the crime was slavery. Just as we now recognize lynching 
was a heinous crime, we must come to see that the laws of the day 
contributed to the oppression of the Black race by the White majority.
  The truth is always important no matter when we learn it. We thank 
Fergus M. Bordewich for his excellent history of the Underground 
Railroad.
  Reviews of ``Bound for Canaan'' from The Wall Street Journal, The New 
Yorker, Publishers Weekly, and other publications have given this book 
high praise.
  John J. Miller of the Wall Street Journal wrote Fergus M. Bordewich 
``has written an excellent book that is probably as close to a 
definitive history as we are likely to see.''
  Cornell West, University Professor of Religion, Princeton University, 
and author of ``Race Matters'' wrote ``This is a masterful story--a 
deeply American story-- of the quest for freedom. This multi-racial 
movement is still a beacon of hope in our present dark times.`
  For today, Mr. Speaker, it is important that we reflect on the 
importance of the racially integrated Civil Rights movement that began 
with the Underground Railroad and continues today. The men and women 
who challenged slavery, the policy of segregation, and the policies of 
racism should be commended for their deeds. They should have the full 
appreciation of this Nation. Mr. Fergus M. Bordewich deserves the 
thanks of this Nation for an important book on the history of the first 
racially integrated civil rights movement in this country.

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