Discussion Questions

How did Ulysses Underground affect you?

What was the predominant thing you learned while reading Ulysses Underground?

Which character in the book would you most like to hang around with?  Why?

Which character would you most want to interview and ask probing questions?  What would you ask?

Which chapter did you find most compelling and why?

Where do you find yourself on the spectrum of people who wanted to go to war vs. those who did not?

Why do we not know any of this about Ulysses S Grant?

What forces fueled these people's intense commitment to justice?

When Ulysses went to school in Kentucky, do you think he did more than schoolwork and mundane chores?

Gist Settlers—Why has so little attention been paid to the Gist Settlements?

What would you have liked to read more about?

Would you give Ulysses Underground as a gift?  If so, who would you give it to?

Describe the different antislavery groups and each group’s agenda?

Describe the tensions and differences between the Garrisonian abolitionists and others who opposed slavery?  

Would you have wanted to live in the antebellum years? What would you have done if you lived in southwestern Ohio?  in the South?