I have been hesitant to weigh in on the topic of the Undergroud Railroad because I feel so ambivalent. At the NY State History Conference in Buffalo a few years ago there was a major emphasis on this topic, partly because the federal government had allocated a lot of money toward it. I spent last year in Hungary where a great deal of attention is now being directed toward people who helped the Jews during the late 1930s and 1940s. This makes Hungarians, Germans and Polish people feel good, but overstressing it amounts to historical distortion. The fact is, most people did not help the Jews. I would hate to have our whole national memory of the slavery period dominated by images of white people helping escaped slaves. That is not the major story. Yes a few did escape, most could not. Yes there were whites willing to risk their necks, but hardly most whites. Now the story of the URR can be told in a way that emphasizes the overwhelming reality rather than the cherry exceptions, but I fear that our enthusiasm for this topic may be another way of erasing the most painful and contradictory chapter in the story of American freedom. What do you think? Patrick McGreevy Patrick McGreevy Department of Anthropology, Geography and Earth Science Clarion University Clarion, PA 16214 814-226-2649 Fax 814-226-2004 [log in to unmask] http://wwwalet.clarion.edu/mcgreevy/home.htm