Odyssey's "Underground Railroad" Story Told
Two Historical Events Recounted on Tape and in Books
Review by Jerry Phillips | Times Staff Writer


In two separate events during the last century, Odyssey was deeply touched by the division between those who supported slavery and those who fought against it.

In 1851,  Reverend Andrew Ferguson of Grace Church in Odyssey helped a family of runaway slaves and, as a result, had his home burned to the ground by slave traders from the South. The dramatic story of the slaves' escape to freedom and the resulting conflict in Odyssey has been captured in a three-part "Adventures in Odyssey" radio program called, appropriately, "The Underground Railroad." Included in the 24th collection of cassettes and compact discs called Risks and Rewards, "The Underground Railroad is an exciting and heart-wrenching look at the effects of slavery and the sacrifices made by those who fought it.

But the story didn't end there. In 1858, Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas had their intense and widely reported debates about the morality of slavery, and the town of Odyssey was divided over the issue. By then Reverend Andrew had become more active in the Underground Railroad, turning his church into a "stop" on the Railroad. This place him again in the center of the slavery controversy as he worked tirelessly to help slaves escape to the North. But his work was often hindered by slave hunters who were given legal access to the North to recapture runaway slaves. It is this period of Odyssey's history that has been told in two books of the "Adventures in Odyssey" series of novels.

Books 9 and 10 chronicle the events surrounding the recapture of a runaway slave and his daughter as seen through the eyes of two modern-day Odyssey kids (Jack Davis and Matt Booker) who stumble back in time thanks to Whit's Imagination Station. They both learn an important lesson about freedom as Matt gets kidnapped by the slave hunters and Jack joins Reverend Andrew on a mission into the South to free him. Book 9 is called Dark Passage and Book 10 is called Freedom Run.

These adventures are authentically rendered and a must for anyone who cares about our nation's—and the city's—history.


This article originally appeared in "The Odyssey Times," a special fictional newspaper produced by Focus on the Family to promote Adventures in Odyssey.


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