The current issue of the Journal of Southern History has this very favorable review of The "Colored Hero" of Harper's Ferry: John Anthony Copeland and the War against Slavery.
Here is the concluding passage:
The book also contributes to the literature concerned with slave resistance and rebellion. The book presents a very personal war against slavery fought out in daily practice and personal experience. Making one of the most famous events in American history into one of many events in an often glossed over historical figure’s life is no small achievement. Through Copeland’s life, this book highlights how free people of color, fugitives, and their white allies braved considerable violence and were willing to enact violence—be they in Oberlin shuttling runaways to freedom or at Harpers Ferry. And that is an important narrative
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