The rediscovery of a pivotal figure in Black history and his importance and influence in the struggle against slavery and discrimination

R. J. M. Blackett is a historian of the abolitionist movement whose books include The Captive's Quest for Freedom: Fugitive Slaves, the 1850 Fugitive Slave Law, and the Politics of Slavery and Making Freedom: The Underground Railroad and the Politics of Slavery. He is Andrew Jackson Professor of History emeritus at Vanderbilt University and lives in Nashville, TN.