# The Father of Abolitionism: John Rankin With Caleb Franz **URL:** **By** John Rankin, Caleb Franz, Paul Meany **Published:** June 19, 2025 --- From his hilltop home in Ripley, Ohio, Rankin established a safe haven for enslaved people crossing the Ohio River. An episode interviewing Caleb Franz covering the life of the abolitionist minister John Rankin. From his hilltop home in Ripley, Ohio, Rankin established a safe haven for enslaved people crossing the Ohio River. Over the course of his life, he became one of the most active conductors on the Underground Railroad, helping hundreds of enslaved people escape to freedom. Rankin was a powerful voice for individual liberty. His _Letters on American Slavery_, published in the 1820s, were among the earliest and most forceful arguments for the immediate abolition of slavery.