Analysis Of The Underground Railroad

Before the Civil War, the American slave industry in the South was thriving with over 4 million enslaved. The slaves’ lives consisted of constant arduous labor and slaves lacked any sort of freedom. Slaves in America were continuously oppressed by the American people and were used as a source of profit. Many laws and legislation, including the Fugitive Slave Acts, were passed purposefully aimed to keep freed and current slaves at a disadvantage. Liberated slaves and some Northerners wanted to end slavery and created things like the Underground Railroad to help enslaved Americans escape and gain liberation. Even with the help of abolitionists, the conditions of the life of a slave prior to the Civil War was defiling and inhumane.

The story that surrounds the transatlantic slave trade is notoriously known, by both young and old, across the nation. This story has not only survived, but thrived as “truth” through generations for several centuries; Although, it is much closer to a mystical tale than reality. In Reversing Sail, Michael Gomez lays the myths affiliated with African Diaspora to rest. Gomez shows the path of the amalgamation of the African people along with their resources into Europe. A path that leads to the New World, that would potentially become the Americas, would ultimately result in more than just the exploitation of Africans as slaves. Compacted into an eight-chapter undergrad textbook, Gomez uses Reversing Sail to unground the history, complexity, and instrumentality of the African Diaspora. He does such in a

One implication as a result of the biggest known migration of human beings in history is that there is little documentation of individuals from the African Slave Trade. As such a familiar occurrence in history, there is little to be known about the individual experiences of captives during this horrific time. Randy Sparks, author of The Two Princes of Calabar, ends the silence as he provides the reader with a glimpse into an eighteenth century odyssey, and first hand account to the trading communities along the coast of West Africa. This trade not only transported people, but the exchange of ideas is also present across and around the Atlantic. The novel tells the story of two young men from Nigeria who are from an elite slave trading family. These men were captured by Europeans and sold into slavery until they were ultimately released back to their homeland. The Two Princes of Calabar offers insight into the complexities that existed in the transracial Atlantic world of the eighteenth century through the themes of privilege, gender bias, and the mistreatment of the enslaved.

The Underground Railroad is a figurative railroad involving hundreds of thousands of people such as slaves, free Blacks, and White abolitionists. The Underground Railroad began in the late 1700s to 1865, with the height of the railroad happening in 1850 to the 1860s, where a thousand or more slaves were able to escape per year. The name of the Underground Railroad comes from the use of railroad code and the railroad being a form of resistance to slavery at the time (Wikipedia). Following the Compromise of 1850 that strengthened the Fugitive Slave Act of 1793, slave catchers were allowed to work in free states and claim free Blacks as slaves and put them back into slavery. The specifics of the railroad are unknown to keep out infiltrators, everything relied on word of mouth, and many who helped only knew their part of the trip (Wikipedia).

Unlike other authors, Colson Whitehead decided to develop his main character in a unique and complex way in his novel The Underground Railroad. Cora’s character development not only occurs with the people she meets, but also with the locations she passes through. Each station, with its own interior and setting, is what ultimately affects her character’s state of mind. Since every state has a different view on slavery, it is natural that the conditions of each station reflect that of the opinions of the outside world, hence affecting Cora herself. Her struggles she faced in order to get to freedom both built her up and tore her down; the root of this driving force can be found within the railroad’s interior.

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?

“The Slave Ship: A Human History” written by Marcus Rediker describes the horrifying experiences of Africans, and captains, and ship crewmen on their journey through the Middle Passage, the water way in the Atlantic Ocean between Africa and the Americas. The use of slaves to cultivate crops in the Caribbean and America offered a great economy for the European countries by providing “free” labor and provided immense wealth for the Europeans. Rediker describes the slave migration by saying, “There exists no account of the mechanism for history’s greatest forced migration, which was in many ways the key to an entire phase of globalization” (10). African enslavement to the Americas is the most prominent reason for a complete shift in the

No hope, no break, very little food, inhuman treatment, this is what slaves went through everyday. Slaves desired a place where they could find freedom. The underground railroad gave slaves the most hope for freedom. The path to freedom was very hard and dangerous for most slaves. But some slaves endured the hardships and became famous abolitionist. It would have been nearly impossible for slaves to escape. If it wasn't for the help of the underground railroad and all the conductors who helped make it possible.

The Gateway to Freedom is an enticing novel that gives further knowledge of racial discrimination and the social inequality of blacks at the time of slavery and how the Underground Railroad combatted this through the different committees and activists of the time. This essay will focus on how the Underground Railroad affected family, economy and religion- the social institutions, those who operated the Underground Railroad were diverse and have different reason for following the abolitionist movement, and not all the committees are made equally.

The author will investigate the Underground Railroad’s work to resist against slavery during the Civil War. The author will collaborate on the dealings of people who were leaders of the Underground Railroad, U.S. political stance on slavery, and the actions that were carried out for the cause of freedom. The authors main focus of the paper will be centered on operations of the Underground Railroad, members involved, struggles they went through to free enslaved people. The writer will go into detail of the Underground Railroad leaders operations. The presentation will be based on sources from an online database jstor.org. Thus, this paper will be about resistance against slavery, and the leaders of the Underground Railroad and their efforts to abolish slavery.

The Underground Railroad was a road to freedom which consisted of an enormous system of people who helped fugitive slaves flee to the North and to Canada. It was run by many Caucasians, or abolitionists, but mainly African Americans, or slaves (Heinrichs 8). The Underground Railroad was a danger which many risked their own lives to save the ones of slaves. This wouldn’t have been able to happen if it weren’t for their secrecy and braveness. The Underground Railroad was an immense success due to the secrecy of the operation that slaves used to gain freedom.

Slavery was a horrific action that took place for hundreds of years., The Underground Railroad was a way to escape this atrocity. The Underground Railroad was not an actual railroad that was underground, but instead a system of homes and places that would house runaway slaves and help them to escape to the North. The Underground Railroad was a dangerous thing, but had the great reward of, freedom for slaves, if theyyou successfully completed the challenge. It took great courage and bravery to take the chance to run away and become free. Many people would try to harm the runaways and would do anything to send them back to the slavery they wanted to escape from. Even with all these challenges the slaves found it worth the risk for the freedom, and many have told their stories of hardships and hope of freedom.

In sharp contrast to what most people think, “only about 6 percent of the slaves imported in Africa ended up in what is now the United States.” Most of those taken from Africa ended up, if they survived the long sea voyage, in the West

The Underground Railroad was not a railroad or underground. The Underground Railroad was a path for slaves to escape. More than 100,000 slaves escaped through the Underground Railroad. (History.com, history.com staff, paragraphs one and two) The slaves can thank people like Harriet Tubman because she was one of the people that helped the slaves leave and be free. There were other people, like William Still, Levi Coffin, and John Fairfield. One of the paths that went through the Underground Railroad was in Cincinnati, Ohio. Different paths extended through fourteen states and including Canada. The Underground Railroad was formed during the 1700-1790s. The Underground Railroad ended in 1861 when the Civil War started. (history.net, in between paragraphs one and two)