Rankin, born in 1793, was a minister who became one of the most impactful figures in the abolitionist movement. Rankin moved from the South to Ripley, Ohio to advance his role in combating slavery more effectively and used his location near the Ohio-Kentucky border to take an active role in freeing hundreds of slaves from their Southern captors. Thousands of miles away from centers of power like Washington or New York, Rankin’s effect on the abolitionist movement at large is a worthy subject of examination for not only historians, but modern readers of a tactical mind, looking to understand how America’s movers and shakers created tremendous ideological momentum despite hailing from unlikely places and possessing unlikely backgrounds.
Rankin’s story appears courtesy of Caleb Franz in his masterfully written new biography The Conductor, which traces the pastor and anti-slavery advocate’s journey from his humble beginnings in Jefferson County, Tennessee, to his work at the heart of America’s abolitionist movement. For those seeking a deeper understanding of our country’s philosophical and political struggle to remain unified, The Conductor is a must-read.
Franz offers a gripping, compelling narrative of Rankin’s difficult, oftentimes discouraging work to end the institution of slavery, from his work as a Presbyterian minister combating slaveholder theology from the pulpit (often fraught with controversy, particularly in Rankin’s early years ministering to slaveholding congregants in Kentucky) to his work as a political commentator and public intellectual, making the practical case for liberty from Tennessee to Ohio. The Conductor is, fittingly, a profoundly humanizing look at the life of a man who dedicated much of his energy to ensuring the respected humanity of others, through the galvanizing power of both words and action.
Indeed, although Rankin’s abolitionist philosophy changed the hearts and minds of many to oppose the institution of slavery, including most notably fellow abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison and future president Ulysses S. Grant, his greatest work undoubtedly came through his role as a “conductor” on the Underground Railroad. Using his own property and resources, he helped hundreds of fugitive slaves make their way across the treacherous Ohio River, often hotly pursued by slave patrols, on their path to the free North. One particular example tells of a slave named Eliza, who crossed the Ohio River in the dead of winter while carrying her young child, risking drowning in the freezing cold water and dooming her child to capture or worse, before making it to Rankin’s house in southwestern Ohio:
John Rankin looked at his boys and explained that she had “crossed the river on the ice!” The boys were stunned to the point of disbelief. “She couldn’t have,” one of them replied. “But she did!” insisted their father.