Freedom Crossing

Freedom Crossing, by Margaret Goff Clark, is a historical novel for young readers set in pre-Civil War New York. The book follows the story of Laura Eastman, a 15-year-old girl who recently moved back to the North after living with her Southern relatives the last four years. The book explores themes of courage and bravery, personal growth, and the abolitionist movement by incorporating historical figures and events. While Margaret Goff Clark wrote several other books, including mysteries, Freedom Crossing, published in 1969, remains her most famous work.

This guide refers to the 1980 Scholastic Apple Paperbacks edition.

Content Warning: This book uses outdated terms for enslaved people and contains racially offensive terms used to describe Black people.

Plot Summary

In pre–Civil War America, 15-year-old Laura Eastman has just moved back to Lewiston, New York, after spending four years in Virginia with her aunt and uncle. Coming home has not been nearly as easy as she’d hoped: Her father, now married to a new wife, feels like a stranger, and her younger brother, Bert, has grown up in her absence. The adjustment is made even more difficult when, in the middle of the night, she overhears voices coming from downstairs. She soon discovers that, in her absence, her family has become integral to the Underground Railroad.

The voices downstairs belong to Bert, her childhood friend Joel, and a runaway enslaved boy named Martin. Joel has come to ask if Bert and Laura can hide Martin while he waits to escape across the border to Canada since his own house is being more closely watched by slave catchers. Bert is hesitant at first, since his father and stepmother are not at home, but he ultimately agrees, much to Laura’s dismay. Laura, who spent her formative years in the South, sympathizes with the plantation owners. She is firm in her beliefs that the law must be obeyed: They should not break it by hiding Martin and should instead send him back to his owner.

Joel, now 18, challenges Laura’s hard-heartedness and asks her to consider the abolitionist perspective for a change. He tells her to read Uncle Tom’s Cabin, by Harriet Beecher Stowe, but Laura dismisses the book as abolitionist nonsense. Joel and Bert ask her to give up her room for the night so that Martin can have access to the secret hiding room built under her floorboards while she was away. While Laura eventually agrees to let Martin stay, her refusal to give up her room forces the boys to look elsewhere for a hiding place.

Once Martin is settled in for the night, Joel leaves, and Laura and Bert argue about what they should do with Martin. Laura goes to bed angry with her brother and mourns the relationship they had before she moved to Virginia. The next morning, Bert apologizes and tries to make peace with Laura. Martin cooks breakfast for them, and the siblings attempt to continue their chores as normal while they wait for night to fall and Joel to take Martin to safety. As they spend time together, Laura is surprised to find out that Martin is educated and can read. The longer she talks to Martin, the more she finds herself wondering if her perspective on slavery is wrong. Ultimately, however, she reverts to wanting to obey the law more than anything else.

Their day is interrupted several times. First, their nosy neighbor, Mrs. Fitch, stops by to check on Laura and Bert, and Martin hides from her just in time. Later, the local sheriff and a group of men from the South, including a nasty and cruel man named Walt, arrive with a search warrant and start to scour the house for Martin. Originally, Martin is hiding in a wardrobe, but soon Bert pulls him from there and brings him to Laura’s room, where they pull back the rug, open the trapdoor, and put him in the room below. Laura sits in a chair covering the trapdoor and hopes that the slave catchers won’t notice. When they enter, she acts angry and indignant at them for entering her private quarters. Her strong Southern accent takes them by surprise. All of the men, except Walt, move quickly through her room, leaving as quickly as they came. By the end of the search, most of them are convinced that a Southern young lady like Laura would never hide a fugitive. Walt is the only one who remains suspicious; he vows to keep an eye on the Eastmans.

Another visitor comes to the house around midday: a boy named Harvey, who is there to deliver a package for Laura. In the package is a copy of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, along with a cryptic note. Laura is furious; she knows that Joel sent the package and is only mocking her. Bert, however, thinks that the book and the note might be trying to send a message. Just as Harvey is leaving, Mrs. Fitch returns to tell them that Joel’s father has been arrested for hiding a fugitive. Laura and Bert get in the carriage and head toward Joel’s house under the guise of going to comfort him.

When they get to Joel’s house, Joel leans out the window and waves them along, warning them not to stop. Bert and Laura instead steer the carriage toward town, where they can avoid suspicion by pretending to shop. While they are out, Bert mentions his theory that Mr. Josiah Tryon, one of the shop owners, might also be involved in the Underground Railroad. They are about to go in and talk to him when Laura notices a strange man with a black beard lurking in Mr. Tryon’s shop. They decide to leave rather than risk the man being a slave catcher.

Laura and Bert are not in a hurry to get back to the house, so they take the long route and drive the carriage by the river. While they are riding, Laura again ponders the note that Joel sent. Bert points out an abandoned house called Tryon’s Folly, named for Josiah Tryon’s brother, Amos, who built the house for his wife, only for her to refuse to move into it. The note reminds her of Tryon’s Folly, and the siblings make the trek to the house to investigate.

When they get there, they descend to the house’s four cellars, the last of which leads to the river. They realize that Joel means for them to bring Martin to Tryon’s Folly that night to escape to Canada. The siblings enjoy a rare, shared moment of excitement, then climb back to the main level and leave the house.

They have just appeared on the road again when a man on horseback comes by and tells them that a fugitive enslaved person has been captured and taken to the local church. Worried it might be Martin, Bert and Laura rush back to town. When they park the carriage, Bert instructs Laura to stay put while he investigates. Laura’s patience wears thin, and she eventually ignores Bert’s warning and leaves the carriage to look at the church herself.

When she gets there, a crowd has amassed. Suddenly, someone comes barreling toward her in her own carriage, and she is pulled to safety at the last second. The driver is the man with the black beard who was in Mr. Tryon’s store earlier. He grabs the fugitive and races away, leaving the sheriff to address the crowd. The sheriff gives Laura and Bert a ride home and promises them he’ll get their horse and carriage back.

When they get back to the house, Martin comes out of the hiding place and thanks the siblings for keeping him safe. To kill time before nightfall, Martin and Bert take turns reading Frederick Douglass’ Paper, a newspaper (formerly titled The North Star) featuring his writing on human rights. Laura, still not convinced by the abolitionist movement, is impressed that a Black man writes and runs a newspaper. His words on human rights cause her to second guess what she thinks she knows about slavery. Laura realizes that everything she thought she knew about slavery is wrong.

That night, the sheriff and Walt return to the house, this time with an arrest warrant for Bert. Walt is convinced, since the carriage belongs to them, that Bert knows something about the rescue of the fugitive, and he wants to bring Bert in for questioning. As soon as they leave, Laura bounds up the stairs to tell Martin that Bert’s been arrested. The two of them realize there’s only one person who can bring Martin to the river tonight: Laura.

Laura dons her brother’s clothes to make it easier to run through the woods. One of the slave catchers is stationed outside the house, so she and Martin have to wait for him to walk away before they can leave. As soon as his back is turned, the two of them rush into the woods and start the journey to freedom.

They are nearly there when Walt, who has been keeping an eye on the road near Tryon’s Folly, sees them and takes off after them in the woods. Laura and Martin run as fast as they can and reach the house safely. They start climbing down to the cellars when Laura hears a voice overhead. Joel Todd is there, ready to help with the escape. He has brought the fugitive who was rescued earlier, George.

Joel is thrilled to see Laura’s change of heart and praises her for her bravery. The two of them make sure that Martin and George get into the rowboat safely and see them off into the night. After a long day, Joel walks Laura to his home to get cleaned up, then gives her a ride home in the carriage. Laura knows she has a lot to learn still, but she’s made up her mind that she’s an abolitionist now. Martin, she decides, will be the first of many runaways she will help.