His Promised Land book review
The autobiography of John P. Parker, a former slave and "conductor" of the Underground Railroad, could be best described as the life time battle of one man against slavery of the African American people. In his own definition of this great injustice, that sadly effected many lives, Parker describes slavery as a phenomenon that "was the making of a human being as an animal without hope . . . and that slavery's curse was not pain of the body, but pain of the soul"(Parker, p26). This troubled him so much that he devoted his life to make a change. Although he often risked his own life along the way, he not only fought for his own freedom, but for the freedom of other slaves as well. His struggle takes place during the darkest time for blacks, particularly in the southern regions of the United States, and part of the most shameful of American history. Slavery was introduced in 1619 as a response to a shortage of labor in southern plantations. By the 1700s, the height of slavery, enslaved blacks came to outnumber whites in the south almost two to one. Between 1730 and 1760, as a response to a fear of black revolts, laws were passed to establish white control over the status of black slaves, enshrining it into law (Mckay, p895). Econo
For the first time he was depending on his own resourcefulness to provide food and safety for himself. Parker's hard-won triumphs of courage and cleverness allowed him to free his fellow slaves and provide them, and the generations that followed, with a brighter future. Also, he describes all of main traps and daring rescues, near escapes and noble sacrifices. This is how he spent the first 18 years of his life as a slave and earned himself a reputation as a troublemaker. He decided to take the case in his own hands, and by searching for pity, persuaded an elderly female patient of the doctor's to purchase him. His wisdom and carefully constructed plan helped him not only to regain his freedom, but also to express his intellectual superiority over whites. There is no doubt he and the other good-hearted people contributed significantly to the fight against slavery of the African American race. Aware of what he had done, he had no other chance but to run out of city. There was an element of sport to his activities, despite their grim, life and death seriousness. John Parker can be seen as a determined young slave, a selfless person who was devoted to making a change in his life and the lives of others that shared the same tragic destiny. He soon got in a fight with his superintendent, an event that ruined his improved status and got him back on a "wrong track". It's also clear from the book, that for Parker rescuing slaves was not merely an anger motivated thing he felt he had to do, but also an activity touched with excitement, even, one might say fun. He started up a business of his own, married, and had several children, three of whom later went on to graduate college. His work on the Underground Railroad flourished and during this activity, he claims to have helped more than four hundred slaves escape across the Ohio River from Kentucky along the busiest segment of the railroad to Canada. Parker, at the age of 18, bought his freedom after 18 months under the contract of his new master.
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