There have been many books written about the plight of slaves fleeing to Canada prior to the American civil war. In I’ve Got a Home in Glory Land, Toronto-born archaeologist Karolyn Smardz Frost has chosen to focus the subject around the story of Thornton and Lucie Blackburn, a husband and wife who fled Kentucky in 1831. Their fascinating story reveals aspects of the history of the American South, the Underground Railroad, and Canada-U.S. relations. Despite the lack of primary source material related to the Blackburns, Smardz Frost has nevertheless managed to paint a vivid picture of the sights, smells, and sounds of the antebellum period.

The Blackburns were arrested in Detroit as fugitive slaves, and then rescued from jail in broad daylight and smuggled to Canada. Once north of the border, the couple was arrested again by Canadian authorities at the request of their American counterparts. The lieutenant general of Upper Canada was then forced to weigh the legality of extradition with the full knowledge that the couple would inevitably be sent back into slavery, a practice that was by then already condemned throughout the British Empire.

The only serious flaw in this well-executed book is that Smardz Frost has taken to her subject with an archaeologist’s zeal. Each piece of information unearthed is included in the narrative: the names, dates, and histories of every person connected to the Blackburns are recounted in detail, occasionally overwhelming the story. As the minutiae pile up, it seems as if the author is overcompensating for a lack of information about the protagonists by working in as many facts as possible about everybody else.

That said, the book is a fascinating tale that looks at this history from a fresh perspective. A key point, often forgotten in our rush to praise the Underground Railroad, is emphasized here – that the real heroes were the slaves themselves, who risked everything for freedom.