Refugee Slaves: Traveling Through The Underground Railroad

When slaves first heard about the Underground Railroad, they might of thought about where to go or how it worked. They should know how Pennsylvania was the first to abolish slavery in 1780, and many states followed like Ohio, Indiana, or even other countries like Canada didn’t have slavery. If slaves did not want to go north, they could go south to Mexico or even some places in south Florida was slave free. If slaves chose to go more south, most of them would hide in woodlands, swamps, empty railroad cars, or even in watercrafts. Some more useful information for slave were that people who led the slaves to freedom were called “conductors”, hideouts like homes, churches, barns, etc. were called a “stations”, and finally slaves were called “fugitives” or could be known as “cargo”. Before the slaves would leave to go on their Underground Railroad journey, they would need to know what a safe house, or station, would look like. All houses would have a quilt hanging on a clothesline with a house and a smoking

The Underground Railroad is not like the railroads that we see today, they were not made of box cars and rails. They were routes that the slaves took to get to freedom, these railways were built or used in late 1786 to 1865. They went from as far west as Kansas, and Texas and as far south as Florida, they all were made to go north to Canada, or to Mexico, or the Caribbean Islands where slavery is illegal. This was an impossible task for the slaves to do on their own. There were many factors on how they found their way and the people who helped them on their journey, which I will discuss later throughout this paper. There over 3000 people who helped the runaway slaves to freedom. (The Underground Railroad).

Abolitionists helped the slaves run away to safer places and/or run away completely. As evidence, the tales of the Underground Railroad demonstrate that, a small group of bondspeople managed to escape from slavery permanently and travelled in a northerly direction, often with the assistance of others. Among them include Frederick Douglass, Henry “Box” Brown, William Wells Brown, Harriet Jacobs, Tubman and Josiah Henson.

For slaves the transition to the New World was at times isolating and difficult. There were rotten, terrifying, and sometimes inhumane experiences that the slaves’ experienced as they transitioned to the New World. Slaves dealt with loneliness when their families were separated because they were sold or because of situations where the owners were controlling their lives.

In 1739 Hutchinson's store was robbed for their ammunition and guns. Two shopkeepers were killed. Plantations were burned down. The African armies destination was Fort Mose. There was 20 men. While marching, they played drums to gain more Africans in their army. Nearly 100 people joined by the Afternoon. They never made it to fort Mose because an armed group caught up to them and the Africans faced a brutal death. South Carolina banned drumming and education for slaves, and made gruesome punishments for runaway slaves because of this incident.

President John F. Kennedy once said, “If we cannot now end our differences, at least we can help make the world safe for diversity.” This quote explains how one person will never be the same as another. Furthermore, if we all can accept each other’s differences, then our world will be safer for everyone. Salva was a Sudanese refugee who walked thousands of miles to reach safety from the civil war in Sudan. Underground railroad slaves were African Americans who escaped working for wealthy slave owners to find safety, and obtain freedom. Despite the different identities between Salva and an underground railroad slave, they share a connection of longing for freedom.

There were many states up north that would aid in providing housing and fresh starts for the African American-escaped slaves. Indiana, for example, has “claimed to have a ‘station’ in every town affiliated with the Underground Railroad (Cox, 18). On the other hand, in Ripley, Ohio, “a town that was ‘pro-slavery,’” a man by the name of John Parker states that the Underground Railroad had a vast amount of slaves being smuggled in and out of this Northern town (Kammen, 4). The fact that there were “slavery-active” towns smuggling African-American slaves beneath their masters’ feet seems incredibly risky and brave of those poor souls destined to obtain freedom.

The Underground Railroad system was spread across a majority of the North and up into Canada, where the slaves did not have to obey the Fugitive Slave Acts. In Pennsylvania alone there were many different routes and networks consisting of, The Bedford-Clearfield Route, Uniontown-Pittsburgh Route, Washington Route,the Central Route, the Philadelphia Network and the Crawford-Erie Network. Each route and network alone rescuing a multitude of slaves. The slaves migrated from their homes in the south and up into the north by foot, by carriage and by boat. Many of the exit ports were located Philadelphia making the city a large import of runaway slaves. This ticket to freedom, although worth every penny, was costly if a slave was to get caught. Some slaves who chose to venture to the North were often hunted down by slave catchers. These men at times carried with them dogs to hunt down, confine, and capture the slaves that were south of the Mason-Dixon line. This made the journey even more difficult for the slaves. In order to stay away from captivity they had to stow away, staying hidden from anyone who is not willing to help. This forced them to travel mostly at night from “station to station” and live in tight quarters in the “conductors” basements or attics.

In the 1800s Black and whites worked to undermine slavery. People tried to undermine slavery by taking slaves the north using the underground railroad. Another way they helped slavery was to make newspapers and make speeches to the people about slaves. People also tried to write bills and pass laws to undermine slavery.

The Underground Railroad was arranged to help the slaves escape north to have the freedom. Harriet Tubman was famous in African-American History, she was known as the leader controlling the idea of the Underground Railroad. She helped 300 slaves escape from the south to the north. Her birth date is unknown because slaves were not allowed to record their birth date. She worked as a nurse and a spy for the northern army. According to the secret history of the Underground Railroad magazine, it states that the railroad was not hidden, and a group of people made a little secret about runaways. The reason why they wanted to escape was that they had bad living conditions and they were forced to work although they did not get paid.

The traveling slaves suffered greatly. Runaways would hide for days, weeks or months at a time. Most helpful was the safe houses and stations, even though plenty of slaves chose not to take advantage of them. Heaps of slaves hid in forests, swamps, caves, or trees. One slave spent 13 months under the floor of a friends’ house. The owner offered a massive reward for his capture, making it unsafe

It was the secret tunnels and passageways that slaves used to escape. People on these railroads hid slaves, giving them food and shelter.

Slavery developed in the Americas because of exploration and need or labor. Europeans captured Africans and transported them across the deadly Middle Passage, to the Americas, where they would be forced to poor under harsh conditions. Slavery had many lasting effects. Africa was depopulated, and Africans in America lost their cultures and identity while Europeans made money from the resources being exported in the Americas at the expense of Africans’ lives and culture.

In, The Refugee; or A North-Side View of Slavery the mountainous terrain can be seen as a great benefit to James Adams and Benjamin Harris. The slave narrative covers the journey of a slave escape. The first thing the men do is go through the river. There can be many slave songs found that talk about going through the water so search dogs lose your scent and are unable to keep tracking you; my favorite song is “Wade In The Water”. With the men going through the water so early search dogs will not be of help trying to find the runaway slaves. The woods provided cover and the great distance between houses in the rural area allowed the men to be safe for a few nights staying at friendly houses along the way. Hills were also very useful “then he

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)