As we arrive at the end of February’s Black History Month celebration, we honor some pioneers of the Underground Railroad, an era that is remembered as major turning point in our country’s history. This brave movement, which developed in the early nineteenth, was responsible for freeing over 100,000 slaves. Defiant, brave and free, the great abolitionists Thomas Garrett, William Still and Harriet Tubman, along with hundreds of lesser known and nameless opponents of slavery, formed a Corridor of Courage stretching from Maryland’s eastern shore through the length of Delaware to Philadelphia and beyond — making the Underground Railroad a real route to freedom for enslaved Americans before the Civil War. Their heroics are captured in the hour long docudrama, Whispers of Angels: A Story of the Underground Railroad.
Long-format interviews with prominent historians blend with dramatic reenactment to create a powerful story about the fight to end slavery. Actors Edward Asner and Blair Underwood portray the two most prominent abolitionists on the eastern line of the Underground Railroad, Thomas Garrett and William Still. Bearing a remarkable resemblance to Thomas Garrett, Asner reenacts the famous courtroom scene in 1848 in which Garrett foreshadows the Civil War and firmly declares to redouble his efforts in fighting for true freedom in America. In spite of the court’s imposition of a crippling financial punishment, Garrett’s ideals were not altered; his clandestine activities continued for many years even during the War. Reading documented text in the form of letters exchanged by Thomas Garrett and William Still (a free black abolitionist in Philadelphia), Asner and Underwood bring to life the fascinating working relationship between the two men and those they helped. Underwood, as William Still, meets in secret with the frightened fugitives who pass through his Anti-Slavery Society Offices in Philadelphia on their dangerous journeys to the north.
Whispers of Angels: A Story of the Underground Railroad is a proud winner of the “World Gold Medal” for History Programming at the New York International Independent Film and Video Festival, and the “Chris Award Statuette” at the Columbus International Film & Video Festival.
