A Report On The Underground Railroad

The Underground Railroad was an overall successful operation due to its secrecy. Even though the slave owners found out about their slaves escaping, they did not uncover the operation of the Underground Railroad. Furthermore, there was no actual method of tracking down runaway slaves. Many people did not think that slaves had much knowledge or wisdom and therefore looked down upon them as having no potential. As a result, no one was suspicious of them fleeing their captivity. Furthermore, to ensure greater protection through this risky and dangerous journey, they made up secret codes and used quilts to send messages to other groups of runaways (Myths of The Underground Railroad). The people helping the slaves were called “conductors”, the slaves were called the “cargo” and the safehouses that the slaves hid in were called “stations” and would have lit lamps outside their doors (EIU). Furthermore, some runaways even used drum beats and communicated by means of song. In fact, one folk song called Follow the Drinking Gourd was taught by a free black to those oppressed to help them escape. The lyrics behind the Drinking Gourd song was supposedly used by an Underground Railroad operative to encode escape instructions and a map for blacks to reach their freedom (Haskins). Driven by their want for freedom, the runaway slaves

Soon this need for cheap labor was replaced with a need for even cheaper labor. Slavery filled this need, but when Africans arrived to America in 1619, the colonists initially treated them as indentured servants. It was not until 1641 that the first slave codes were passed in the colony of Massachusetts and 20 years later in Virginia, marking the

The earliest form of slavery in North America can be traced back to Jamestown, Virginia in 1619. There, they were called the “Twenty and Odd” and considered servants rather than slaves. Though little is known about this infamous event, this ‘trade’ continued of capturing Africans from Africa and bringing them to the colonies of Britain. The usage of slaves increased and were often used as field laborers on plantations, house workers, blacksmiths

The Underground Railroad was a passage to freedom for the slaves which made the slave-owners exasperate. The slaves had to risk their lives while travelling to the northern states but it was worth it as the result of such hard work was freedom. The underground railroad, a secret network running from the Deep South through the free states and to the Canadian border that helped slaves escape from the slave-holding states before the Civil War, allowed abolitionists and their allies to help runaway slaves, made "conductors" like Harriet Tubman famous, and reached its height after the passage of the 1850 Fugitive Slave Act.

The Underground Railroad was a path to safety and freedom for thousands of slaves before the Civil War. Escaping from the chains, confinement and abuse of slavery was no easy task and it took the cooperation of many people

The Underground Railroad was an intricate system of households and farmhouses alike that were all connected throughout many towns and villages in the mid 1800s. It was formed by the common goal of people taking a stand against the law and helping thousands of black slaves escape from the south to gain their rightful freedom in the north. This happened because many people began to see slaves as human beings with value, rather than brutes that were valued less than a human. Throughout the mid 1800s, there were many cases of runaway slaves attempting to escape to freedom without anywhere to hide or anyone to help. A lot of people realized that this was a very impactful movement so they began to open up their minds and homes to these fugitive slaves as an attempt to help them make it into the north. Many people helped these runaway slaves because they believed it was morally right, that black oppression was a crime; slaves held value and deserved to keep their family together and lead a life as any other man or woman would, and former slaves shed light on these critical issues.

A journey of hundreds of miles lies before you, through swamp, forest and mountain pass. Your supplies are meager, only what can be comfortably carried so as not to slow your progress to the Promised Land – Canada. The stars and coded messages for guidance, you set out through the night, the path illuminated by the intermittent flash of lightning. Without a map and no real knowledge of the surrounding area, your mind races before you and behind you all at once. Was that the barking of the slavecatchers’ dogs behind you or just the pounding rain and thunder? Does each step bring you closer to freedom or failure?

During the Pre-Civil War era in America, many Africans become enslaved. They were taken from their homes in Africa, packed densely onto ships and transported across the Atlantic to Southern America. White Americans bought these Africans, including children, to work on crop plantations or do housework. ("Africans Arrive in North America") Countless slaves tried to escape the southern slave states to the anti-slavery northern states. A number of slaves even went as far as Canada to be free of the harsh environment they were forced into (Burton 125). These slaves used a network of secret routes and houses called the Underground Railroad. During this time, not all white folks agreed with enslaving other human beings so a group of

Harriet Tubman: Conductor on the Underground Railroad was written by Ann Petry. It was published by Thomas Y. Crowell in 1955. The book has 242 pages. This book tells about Harriet 's life as a young slave and how she escaped slavery. She led many other slaves to freedom in the North throughout her life.

The Underground Railroad was one of the most remarkable protests against slavery in United States history. It was a fight for personal survival, which many slaves lost in trying to attain their freedom. Slaves fought for their own existence in trying to keep with the traditions of their homeland, their homes in which they were so brutally taken away from. In all of this turmoil however they managed to preserve the customs and traditions of their native land. These slaves fought for their existence and for their cultural heritage with the help of many people and places along the path we now call the Underground Railroad.

The Underground Railroad did no 't always have a name, it was just a process, sometimes organized into a network but most of the time not, in which slaves escaped north to the free states. The free states were the north, because the Ssouth still believed in slavery while the Nnorth wanted to end it. The term The Underground Railroad was used by George Washington in the 1780s but didn 't pick up until the 1830s. “... it was common by the mid-1840s to speak and write of the Underground Railroad as a clandestine system for runaway slaves.” (Blight).” The people who helped in the Underground Railroad were called conductors. Most of the conductors were escaped slaves that

The Underground Railroad is viewed as simply a series of trails that led slave to freedom. It was more than that. What were the motivations behind the creation of it? Were there political involvements? Was it developed with financial gain in mind? The Underground Railroad is another one of those subjects that gets swept under the proverbial carpet. Slavery happened everywhere, whether people want to admit it or not. The Underground Railroad was a positive and a negative thing. Most people don’t comprehend what it fully entailed or the impact that it had on all people. It is important to review the past, so we can make an attempt to not make the same mistakes. The above questions will be answered in a well rounded account of all parties involved from the abolitionists to the slaves and those who were supporters.

     The Underground Railroad, the pathway to freedom which led a numerous amount of African Americans to escape beginning as early as the 1700‘s, it still remains a mystery to many as to exactly when it started and why. (Carrasco). The Underground Railroad is known by many as one of the earliest parts of the antislavery movement. Although the system was neither underground nor a railroad, it was a huge success that will never be forgotten.

The Underground Railroad was what many slaves used to escape slavery. It was not an actual railroad, although it could easily be compared to one. It was a route, with safe houses and many other hiding spots for the slaves to use. The paths had conductors telling you where to go and people who would drive you to the next safe house. You had to be quick, you had to be strong, and you had to be very courageous. The Underground Railroad led all the way to Canada. There were many people helping the slaves, and even more people that were opposing them. It was no easy task. Many slaves died of sickness or natural causes, gave up and returned back to the plantation, or were caught and either killed or brought back. It was a rough journey but a

The simple fact is that everybody has heard of the Underground Railroad, but not everyone knows just what it was. First of all, it wasn=t underground, and it wasn=t even a railroad. The term AUnderground Railroad,@ actually refers to a path along which escaping slaves were passed from farmhouse to storage sheds, from cellars to barns, until they reached safety in the North. One of the most widely known abolitionists in history is a slave by the name of Harriet Tubman. She is best known as the conductor of the Underground Railroad and risked her life to help free nearly 300 slaves. The primary importance of the Underground Railroad was the ongoing fight to abolish slavery, the start of the Civil War,