Underground Railroad – Finding My Wings

On the road again! Nashville bound – Day 1

Before the era of total connectivity taking a vacation had a very different meaning. There was no phone or laptop to leave at home if you wanted to truly disconnect. On the flip side, having access to one’s work and other obligations from the road can make it possible to be away from home or work longer without being out of the loop. And you can get great ice cream recommendations from friends while on the road – more about that later!

There are large swaths of the US I have never visited. Among the top spots on my list was Nashville, so Dan indulged me by crafting our annual DC=> Hilton Head, SC, summer trip via Music City. None of this shortest distance/least time route as calculated by Waze for us! No, our goal is to take the opportunity to explore places that we have not seen.

STOP 1 – Cincinnati, OH: After a ~~dinner~~ pizza break in Breezewood, PA, we continued on and spent the night near the West Virginia line. Driving through Wheeling early in the morning brought a lovely sight. The soundtrack to the drive was Colson Whitehead’s The Underground Railroad, the terrain a reminder of the difficult miles that slaves seeking freedom and settlers had to traverse to find home. Shortly before noon, we arrived at the American Sign Museum. Out in an industrial area of Cincinnati, it is a true gem. They have gathered advertising signs from all eras of American industry, with wonderful audio descriptions. Thanks to the staff of the museum, we headed to Findlay Market, the oldest municipal market in Ohio, to find lunch. Wandering through the outdoor stalls, we came upon a familiar face, Teeny Morris, owner of Teeny Pies, one of our daughter’s housemates during their time in Chicago. It is very good to know a top-notch baker!

There were two more major events planned for Cincinnati. Once we dropped our bags off at the hotel, formerly the Cincinnati Enquirer Building, we walked to the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center. Open since 2004, the museum tells the story of the search for freedom from the arrival of slaves on our shores until today, worldwide. It is an ambitious effort and the targetted exhibits are well done. Its location looking across the Ohio River to Kentucky is echoed in a film of abolitionists aiding fleeing slaves leaving Kentucky.

I am a big baseball fan. The Cincinnati Reds were hosting the Milwaukee Brewers for a late afternoon game, so off we went. As practiced fans, we beat the heat by choosing seats in the shade and were lucky enough to score Rosie the Red bobbleheads! The Great American Ballpark is very roomy with great sightlines and wide concourses. It also has two huge screens with different player info and more advertising than I’ve seen at any other park.

Daughter #2 had been in Cincinnati recently on business and sent us to Nada for dinner, noteworthy for people in our area because they are expanding to Pike & Rose very soon. And then we took our Facebook friends’ recommendations and found Graeter’s ice cream nearby on Fountain Square, listened to live music and chatted with some Milwaukee Brewers fans before calling it a night.

SaveSave

Following ‘The Underground Railroad’

The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead (Doubleday) 2016, (Random House Audio, Bahni Turpin – Narrator)
In 40 words or less: Cora’s self-sufficiency makes her an outcast among the slaves on the Georgia plantation. When Caesar, another slave, prevails on her to escape with him, Cora’s journey to find a free future and reclaim her past begins.
Genre: Literary fiction
Locale: Georgia and north
Time: Approximately 1840’s
Winner of both the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award, Colson Whitehead uses magical realism and time-shifting to supplement the realistic and inhumane treatment of so many. Juxtaposing the attitudes of the slaveholders and those that maintained the railroad is fascinating. The villainy of the slave-catchers and the complacency of those standing by paints a portrait of the pre-Civil War US.

It took me far too long to make Colson Whitehead’s The Underground Railroad my own. Two years ago, Whitehead spoke at the BookExpo America Book & Author Breakfast, attended by the book trade, librarians, and bloggers or book group leaders like me. He is a charismatic speaker and it was clear that this book would make waves.

Several times a year, Dan and I head out on an extended road trip. This July’s was the most ambitious. We headed from the Washington, DC area to Hilton Head, SC, via Pennsylvania, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia. It seemed fitting to choose The Underground Railroad as our audiobook since the characters Whitehead created traversed much of the same terrain.

Cora, the central character of the novel, is young and alone after her mother escapes the Georgia plantation and is never heard from again. All she is left by her mother is a tiny patch of land in front of their shack where Cora plants yams, supplementing her food supply and marking her independence. Cora is deeply hurt and angry that her mother has neither sent for her nor been in touch, though she clearly wasn’t captured and returned as a runaway. Very smart, Cora knows how to read and hides this knowledge since it could endanger her. She has only one friend and rebuffs efforts advances by any man, understanding that she is safer on her own.

Caesar, another slave on the plantation, has observed Cora and recognizes that her self-sufficiency and intellect would make his chance of escaping the plantation more likely. After several efforts, the two of them take off, heading to the underground railroad. Whitehead’s railroad is the literal conveyance that often comes to mind among those that are just learning about the period. There is a network of conductors, secretly assisting runaways on their journeys.

As Cora and Caesar travel from state to state, Whitehead creates different milieus that challenge their move to freedom. In each locale, the response of the residents to those seeking freedom is completely different as well. Whitehead’s descriptions draw the reader in and convey the terrifying situations that interactions with the residents and the terrain demand.

As I mentioned at the top, this was the audiobook we listened to as we made a big loop through many states that were on the real Underground Railroad. Looking out the window as the story unfolded, I gave more thought to the difficulty in traversing rivers, often with slave-catchers in pursuit and few swimming skills. I imagined the darkness and the dangers from run-ins with animals, trying to forage for food, and wondering if the one farm nearby was shelter or danger. The narrator, Bahni Turpin, gave distinctive voices to all the characters and created a picture that made the hours seem like minutes. While I should have moved this great novel to the top of the pile much sooner, I am grateful I waited. The combination of the book and the journey made this an experience I won’t soon forget.

SaveSave

The Hidden Light of Northern Fires

Hidden Light of Northern Fires by Daren Wang (St. Martin’s Press; August 2017)
In 40 words or less: Town Line, New York had a rare outpost of secessionists as the Civil War approached. Mary Willis puts her family home and business in jeopardy as a stop on the Underground Railroad. Wang imagined this story from materials found in his hometown.
Genre: Historical Fiction
Locale: US (Buffalo area, NYC)
Time: Civil War
Historical fiction can send a reader straight to the internet to learn more. Elements of this novel did just that for me. It is a September Indie Next pick.

Mary Willis wants more than small town life after her college graduation in 1859. A visit to her alma mater draws her into aiding the Underground Railroad, crucial since her family lives near the Canadian border. The Willis family is very prominent in Town Line, New York, with farmlands, a lumber mill, and a well-established business shipping and selling materials throughout the region. Mr. Willis is a town commissioner as well, further ensuring his influence.

Town Line is a split community. While many are in favor of Lincoln and the north in the impending war, a group of German immigrants, led by their minister, are sympathetic to the southern cause and believe that escaped slaves should be caught and returned as property. Several among them scour the area as armed bounty hunters, known as Copperheads, creating dangerous confrontations among neighbors.

At the start of 1861, Joe Bell has reached New York after fleeing Virginia. Taught to read by his master and very skilled, Joe is better equipped to navigate the dangers than many others. So close to freedom, Joe tangles with two Copperheads and is badly wounded, finally seeking cover on Willis property. His good fortune in this choice is tainted by the vengeance sought for the casualties of the encounter. From then forward, Joe’s and Mary’s lives are inextricably entwined.

Leander Willis is the family’s heir apparent. More interested in hanging around with his childhood buddies, his father dispatches him to nearby Buffalo to begin to learn the ropes of the family business. Leander is easily distracted by the wheeling and dealing and the lure of nightlife. Soon he is drawn to New York City and his life spirals out of control, damaging the family business in the process.

After returning home, Leander seeks redemption by banding together most of his friends as recruits for the Union Army. As a son of a prominent family, Leander is commissioned as an officer, common practice in the day. Soon they realize that the war is not the lark they imagined.

The beauty of Daren Wang’s debut novel is the teasing out of new facets of history within an engaging story. I’m a big fan of authors who drop bread crumbs to encourage readers to research the veracity of surprising details within the story. Wang did this very well. Most stories of the Civil War focus on Gettysburg and south. Bringing to the fore the northern experience and Canadian involvement is a welcome change. The characters he created are complicated, many admirable, others less so. Throughout the book, people are forced to deal with the consequences of their choices. The mix of characters, history and plot twists make for a worthy addition to Civil War historical fiction.

SaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSaveSaveSave

SaveSave

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: