Today On The Signorile Show!

4:35pm ET - New York City wasn't always the liberal bastion it is today. In the decades leading up to the Civil War, the city was overwhelmingly pro-slavery as a result of its banking and shipping industries which were closely tied to the cotton and sugar trades, which both relied on slave labor.  As a result, any change in the status quo, such as the abolition of slavery, would significantly damage the very industries that made New York the financial capital of the United States. However, according to acclaimed historian Eric Foner of Columbia University, even with all that resistance, the Underground Railroad, the network of secret safe houses and getaway routes used by fugitive slaves seeking freedom in the North, operated throughout the city.  Professor Foner joins us today to discuss his latest book Gateway to Freedom: The Hidden History of the Underground Railroad which details the incredible and nearly forgotten history of a handful of people, both black and white, who between 1830 and 1860 managed to help more than 3,000 people make their way to freedom. You can also follow Eric on twitter.


Don't forget, you can follow me on Twitter and Facebook! 
Listen to The Michelangelo Signorile Show weekdays live from 3-6 pm ET on SiriusXM Progress 127 and on the SiriusXM iPhone, Blackberry and Android apps. Not a subscriber? Not a problem! Listen online any time with a free thirty-day pass or, if you have an iPhone or Blackberry, go to the app store and download SiriusXM for free, for a 7-day trial, and listen on your