Necessary Courage: Iowa’s Underground Railroad in the Struggle Against Slavery
Lowell J. Soike, University of Iowa Press
From its first settlements in the 1830s to its incorporation as a state in December 1846, Iowa was dominated by pro-slavery Democrats. But as more people moved there, the influx included evangelical Christians and other abolitionist elements. By the mid-1850s, Iowa was as divided as the nation of which it was part. During this time the state abided by the Fugitive Slave Act, and most Iowans retained a white supremacist attitude toward blacks, free or slave. But many abolitionists risked the consequences of breaking the law to help slaves escape from Missouri to Illinois or Canada, through what became their own Midwestern version of the Underground Railroad.
In Necessary Courage, Lowell J. Soike has unearthed a wealth of documentation on individual episodes to explore some little-known or forgotten history. Besides defying everything from Missouri slave-catchers to their own state law, Iowa abolitionists were at odds with a pervading regional attitude. Soike’s book puts human faces on the agents of gradual political and social change in the state, change that would lead to Iowa’s more active participation in the war.
Originally published in the August 2014 issue of Civil War Times. To subscribe, click here.
