The Underground Railroad

Chapter 21 Summary

The chapter opens with a bulletin dated October 4 and circulated by a James Aykroyd. It states that an enslaved girl named Sukey fled without provocation. It states that her Methodist allegiance can identify her, along with her physical characteristics.

Cora arrives at Valentine farm. Here, she finds herself a struggling student among 6- and 7-year-olds, not unlike the elderly Harold in South Carolina, who wept during lessons. Many of the children speak with precision and maturity. They study and recite the words of the Founding Fathers, and the Declaration of Independence.

Four months pass. The harvest is finished. New arrivals to the farm ease Cora out of her place as the outcast. Cora watches them marvel at their schoolbooks. She begins to settle in, knowing the rhythms of the farm and her favorite places to get some privacy. She has settled into a friendship with her teacher Georgina—who, like all the women from Delaware—likes to gossip.

Cora has also developed a tender friendship with a child named Molly, the child with whom Cora lives, along with Sybil, the girl’s mother. Not since Chester has she been an adult treasured by a child. Occasionally, when Sybil is working, Cora aids in Molly’s care by braiding her hair and walking the girl to school.