The Underground Railroad

1
The Underground Railroad

• Was It Really Underground?

2
Who Rode The Train, and Why?

• Slaves were punished with harsh beatings for
  offenses as minor as not picking enough cotton in
  one day. The punishments for trying to escape to
  freedom were the worst kinds of torture. Despite
  this, many brave people tried to run away to the
  Northern states or Canada, where slavery was much
  less common or illegal.

3
Where were the tracks?

• There once was an invisible train that ran
  without tracks. This railroad transported slaves
  to freedom through a network of "stations" led by
  secret "conductors."
• It was a route from slavery to freedom, from the
  South to Canada.
• The path was not marked, but the sky gave the
  clues.
• Following the North Star was the way to freedom.

4
The North Star

• The North Star (Polaris) was used for navigation.
• Its constant presence in the heavens has shown
  people the way north for centuries.
• The Big Dipper is also known as the Drinking
  Gourd.

5
Where were the slaves to go?

• Slavery was rampant in the Southern United
  States.
• Unspeakable conditions plagued the slaves.
• To escape, they had to go all the way to Canada.
• How did they find their way?

6
Following a Map

• Most slaves did not know how to read, and
• Giving directions to a slave was high treason, so
  
• The North Star was used extensively for
  navigation.
• Directions had to be encrypted, and quilt squares
  were used for mnemonic reference.

7
Quilts squares showed the path

• Quilt squares were sewn to depict farms, rivers,
  and other points of reference.
• No quilt was actually taken with a runaway slave
• Clues were all in the mind

8
A Famous Conductor

• Harriet Tubman was the most famous conductor.
• She conducted slaves to freedom by showing them
  the way to safe houses.
• There was a 40,000 reward for her.
• She was never apprehended.

9
Harriet Tubman (left) conducting passengers on
the UGRR
10
What She Thought

• I have heard their groans and sighs, and seen
  their tears, and I would give every drop of blood
  in my veins to free them.
• Harriet Tubman
• She even helped her own parents aboard the UGRR.

11
Fugitive Slave Act - 1850

• Even after escaping, slaves always faced the
  potential of being captured and returned to their
  owner.
• It required citizens to assist in the recovery of
  slaves, (even freemen were captured and
  returned to slavery).
• Whole communities of fugitives in the northern
  states left for Canada. 
• Between 1850 and 1860 the number of slaves who
  escaped through the Underground Railroad reached
  its peak.

12

• Even freemen could be captured by Northerners and
  sold for slavery in the south.

13

14
The Thirteenth Amendment to the US
Constitution

•   

15
The History of the Underground Railroad
                                                
      For

• is one worth studying and passing along, for it
  shows how each individual decision to take a risk
  and do the "right thing" for oneself or for
  someone else lays down tracks that link together
  for everyone's ride on the great train of
  freedom.