Vigilance: The Life of William Still, Father of the Underground Railroad

Historian Diemer (Towson Univ.; The Politics of Black Citizenship) moves beyond reporting details of the life of William Still in this engaging production narrated by Cary Hite. Diemer also fleshes out and explores the actions of the Underground Railroad community that thrived, due in large part to Still’s hard work organizing, protecting, and chairing the Vigilant Committee of Philadelphia’s Anti-Slavery Society Office and his responses to backlash from opponents of abolition. Still would not have been as successful without the support of his peers, friends, and family, who helped him give enslaved people the hand they needed to help themselves, Diemer writes. Luminaries featured include abolitionists Lucretia Mott and John Brown and formerly enslaved abolitionists Henry Box Brown and Harriet Tubman. Backlash from the Dred Scott case and similar setbacks made daily life challenging for all. Hite’s pitch rises and falls, and pacing varies as controversy and action follow Stills at every turn. To set apart quotations, Hite effectively uses changes in tone as if speaking for that person, with racial slurs and demeaning language edited out of quotations in the audio production.