Highlights Archives
New Book Uncovers the Life of a Runaway Slave
In the spring of 1852, Joshua Glover escaped from slavery and made his way north from Missouri to Wisconsin, where he found work in Racine. There, on March 11, 1854, his owner, Bennami Garland, tracked him down and arrested Glover under the Fugitive Slave Law, as depicted on the left side of this illustration. But the next night, abolitionists led by Sherman Booth famously broke into the jail and helped Glover escape to Canada. Glover's escape helped to galvanize the abolitionist movement in Wisconsin and led Wisconsin to become the only state in country to declare the Fugitive Slave Law unconstitutional. But Glover's escape is only the beginning.
 The cover of Finding Freedom Finding Freedom: The Untold Story of Joshua Glover, Runaway Slave from the Wisconsin Historical Society Press is the first book to follow Glover through the 33 years of his life after his dramatic escape. Employing original research, authors Ruby West Jackson and Walter T. McDonald examine in detail one man's fascinating life story and introduce the many ordinary people he encountered in his life. In so doing, they advance Glover to his rightful place in runaway slave literature and make Glover's story his own rather than just that of the abolitionists who helped him.
Filled with bravery and compassion, Finding Freedom retraces the steps of one man determined to live his life unbound, and provides a personal window into a nation's struggle for the meaning of freedom, liberty and justice.
Visit the Wisconsin Historical Museum Shop to get your copy of Finding Freedom and all the other publications from the Wisconsin Historical Society Press.
:: Posted April 18, 2007
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