When William Still passed away in 1902, The New York Times described him as “known throughout the country as the Father of the Underground Railroad.” Still meticulously documented the stories of more than 600 slaves he guided to freedom, providing remarkable insight into the Underground Railroad. Working in Philadelphia with the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society, Still housed and fed runaway slaves, before sending them to freedom in Canada. He interviewed each person and kept detailed records before releasing them as a book. The Underground Railroad, printed in 1872, is an authentic account of the workings of the Underground Railroad. One story recounted in the PBS documentary, Underground Railroad: The William Still Story, captures Still’s astounding discovery that the runaway slave across the table from him is actually his brother who was sold to a slave trader 50 years earlier. A dramatic re-creation captures the story of Henry Box Brown, a slave shipped by train in a wooden box from Richmond to Philadelphia, where he was greeted by William Still. This lecture is enhanced by video clips from the documentary and includes a brief discussion of the challenges of using re-creations and first-person narrative to tell the story.

Instructor: John Grant, award-winning documentary producer, developed and executive produced Underground Railroad: The William Still Story for national broadcast on PBS. From 1974 to 1990, Grant worked at WPSU-TV/Penn State, including four years as general manager. From 1990 to 1995, he was senior vice president of programming and scheduling for PBS in Washington, D.C. In 1996, he formed Driftwood Productions and created, produced, and executive produced more than 50 hours of documentary programming for national PBS broadcast. Grant wrote or co-authored nine companion books for his TV programs. He received an Emmy as an executive producer of the popular PBS children’s series Reading Rainbow. He retired in 2022 and lives with his wife, Joan, in State College.