Close to the Mason-Dixon line, South Central Pennsylvania was a magnet for slave catchers and abolitionists alike. Influenced by religion and empathy, local abolitionists risked their reputations, fortunes and lives in the pursuit of what they believed was right. The sister of Benjamin Lundy, one of America's most famous abolitionists, married into an Adams County family and spent decades helping runaway slaves on the Underground Railroad. National figures such as Frederick Douglass toured the region, delivering antislavery orations to mixed receptions. In 1859, John Brown planned his Harpers Ferry raid from Chambersburg while local abolitionists concealed his identity. Author Cooper Wingert reveals the history of the antislavery movement in South Central Pennsylvania.

Cooper Wingert is the author of ten books, including "The Confederate Approach on Harrisburg" and "Slavery and the Underground Railroad in South Central Pennsylvania." He is the recipient of the 2012 Dr. James I. Robertson Literary Award for Confederate History. Wingert currently resides in Enola, Pennsylvania.

Description courtesy of the History Press.