The Underground Railroad

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The Underground Railroad
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The Underground Railroad

• The Underground Railroad was actually an
  above-ground series of escape routes for slaves
  traveling from the South to the North trying to
  gain their freedom.
• Slaves traveled by foot, wagons, and boats. It
  was not a real railroad!
• Slave runaways would usually travel by the light
  of night and hide during the day in places known
  as stations. These were safe houses owned by
  abolitionists.

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Abolitionist

• Abolition-The movement to end slavery
• Slaves would hide in various places.
• Abolitionist a person who believed and worked
  for the ending of slavery.

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Henry Box Brown
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Henry Box Brown

• Henry Brown convinced Samuel A. Smith to pack him
  in a box and ship him to Philadelphia,
  Pennsylvania.
• Henry Box Browns trip to Philadelphia was
  grueling, in tight quarters.
• Brown was set free in Philadelphia and eventually
  made his way to Boston, where he helped fellow
  escapees on the Underground Railroad.

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Would you take the risk???

• If the slaves were caught, they were sold or
  beaten with a whip sometimes they were lynched.

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Conductors

• Conductors were the people who led the runaways
  to freedom.

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Harriett Tubman
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• Harriet Tubman was born a slave in Maryland.
• When she learned that her owner was going to sell
  her, she decided to escape.
• Tubman made 19 journeys from the South to the
  North as a Conductor on the Underground Railroad.

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Harriet Tubman

• Southern Plantation owners offered 40,000 for
  the capture of Harriet Tubman.
• Plantation Owners also offered rewards for the
  return of runaway slaves.

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Susan B. Anthony

• Fought for womens suffrage in the 20th Century
• She worked for temperance and anti-slavery
  movements

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Jonathan Walker

• Jonathan Walker became a national hero in 1844
  when he was tried and sentenced as a slave
  stealer following an attempt to assist seven
  runaway slaves find freedom.  He was branded on
  the right hand with the letters SS signifying
  "Slave Stealer".

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Josiah Henson

• Josiah Henson was one of the first slaves to
  write his memoirs after escaping to freedom.
• Harriet Beecher Stowe acknowledged that Henson's
  writings were the inspiration for her 1852 novel,
  Uncle Tom's Cabin

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Routes to Freedom
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THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD
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THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD
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Spirituals
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Songs

• Songs like Wade in the Water, The Gospel
  Train and Swing Low, Sweet Chariot directly
  refer to the Underground Railroad.
• Spirituals gradually evolved to serve a variety
  of purposes in the fight for freedom
• 1) Singing as an expression of values
• 2) Singing as a source of inspiration or
  motivation
• 3) Singing as an expression of protest
• 4) Singing as a communication tool

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Quilts

• During the time of the Underground Railroad
  fugitive slaves would use quilts as a means of
  communication.
• Quilts were used by conductors to help fugitive
  slaves flee the South and arrive safely in the
  North.

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Quilt Usage in the Underground Railroad

• This Quilt represented the NORTH STAR

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Quilts

• This quilt was the symbol for the wagon wheel

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Quilts

• This Quilt symbolized a log cabin

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Quilts

• This quilt symbolized a crossroads

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The Underground Railroad