Description
Book SynopsisA story of freedom and flourishing in a community of refugees
Trade ReviewAlbert B. Corey Prize, the American Historical Association and the Canadian Historical Association, 2008.
"The book is a treasure trove of information. . . . Crossing the Border is recommended for students at both the high school and college levels, and the general reading public."--Multicultural Review
"Hepburn's book joins the ranks of the very best accounts of how thirty thousand runaway slaves fled Southern U.S. plantations in search of new lives in Canada, and once there, built viable settlements despite overwhelming odds against them. We are immensely grateful for this well-researched and well-written account."--H-Canada
"Crossing the Border is essential reading for all serious students of African American history."--Journal of American History
"Crossing the Border is a thorough study that features a highly readable narrative drawn from primary sources including Canadian census returns, Elgin Association records, church histories, family papers, newspaper articles, and personal correspondence."--Michigan Historical Review
"Neither a fairy tale of living happily ever after nor a litany of disappointments,
Crossing the Border tells of real people who changed their lives and made new ones under the North Star."--David I. Macleod, professor of history, Central Michigan University
"Sharon Hepburn's community study of Buxton, Canada, significantly adds to our understanding of the diverse conditions confronting free blacks throughout the entire area north of Dixie.
Crossing the Border shows that Canadian government policies were more accepting of blacks than those in the adjacent Old Northwest, and that Buxton afforded greater economic opportunities, more favorable race relations, and better educational access than in virtually all other areas. Hepburn's work will introduce scholars to the different character of opportunities afforded free blacks not just in Buxton and Canada West but throughout the entire trans-Appalachian West."--Stephen A. Vincent, author of
Southern Seed, Northern Soil: African-American Farm Communities in the Midwest, 1765-1900
