... a loosely connected series of routes that stretched through the southern state borders. Guided north by the stars and singing traditional songs like "Follow the Drinking Gourd," most runaways traveled at night on foot and took advantage of the natural protections offered by swamps, bayous, forests, and waterways. Others who escaped from the South traveled into the western territories and Mexico. Some ... appeared in the 1890s and was such an important aspect of jazz and the gutbucket feature of black dance music. The techniques from this music, the slurring and bending of notes, the wil...

• Word Count: 3713
• Approx Pages: 15
• Grade Level: High School

... when, in 1846, he refused to pay poll taxes. He did so to express his opposition to slavery as it became an issue in the Mexican War. Thoreau spent one night in jail for his refusal. Thoreau summed up his idea of the role of government in "Civil Disobedience." He wrote, "There will never be a really free and enlightened State until ... portion of the information on the lives of these figures. Many of these articles were form the Reader's Digest. Bliven took these articles and Ideas from his own journals and notes about what he had gained and learned from the individuals in the book, his...

• Word Count: 3135
• Approx Pages: 13
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School