The Conductor: The Story of Rev. John Rankin, Abolitionism's Essential Founding Father

Known in his day as the “Father of Abolitionism,” Reverend John Rankin is one of the greatest heroes previously lost to history.

Sitting high above the small community of Ripley, Ohio, a lantern shone in the front window of a small, red brick home at night. It was a signal to slaves in Kentucky—a beacon of liberty in the darkness—just across the Ohio River. Anyone fleeing bondage could look to Reverend John Rankin’s home for hope. To the slaveholders they fled from, Rankin’s activities as a ...