The Life of Slaves in 1850 Essay

The Underground Railroad was a secret system of individuals who assisted fugitive slaves in their quest for freedom prior to the Civil War. The term, used between 1830-1860, refers to the swift, “invisible” way in which the slaves escaped. Usually they hid during the day and moved at night. Coffin says: “fugitive slaves relied heavily on fellow slaves and free blacks, who rarely betray them.” (Coffin, 2006). The most famous black leader in the movement was Harriet Tubman, a nonliterate runaway slave who became the “Moses” of her people.

The Underground Railroad was neither a railroad nor underground. It was a system of secret routes and people who helped African American Slaves escape to the North and to Canada during the 19th century. Why was it called that? The reason it was named “The Underground Railroad” was because it was figuratively underground as the network was illegal so they needed to stay “underground” to keep from being caught. The word “railroad” was used because the railroad was a rising mean for transportation and its users used railroad code to talk to each other in secret.

For most people, when they hear about the Underground Railroad they immediately think of Harriet Tubman and maybe Frederick Douglass. Most textbooks and history classes only speak briefly of the Underground Railroad and everything it accomplished. One reason for this is because there are so few documents that were kept because it was an illegal and secret movement. It consisted of routes with safe stopping places for fugitive slaves fleeing from the South towards either the free Northern states or Canada. None of it was actually underground, but it got that name because it was kept such a secret from authorities and they also used railroad terminology such as lines, stations, and conductors. Fergus Bordewich decided to write Bound for Canaan

In 1861:The civil war begins.The north wants to ban slavery while the south want’s to keep it LegaL.In 1776:The decleration of independence was signed.Some states begin to ban slavery.In 1619:The first African slaves arrive in virginia. Purvis established the underground railroad Agents in north,carolina, maryland,delaware.Slaves carried with them protection papers to verify they were not

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 covered 29 states in the United States as well as Mexico, the Caribbean, and Canada (Smedley 56). The concept of rails included streams, rivers, forests, swamps, and back roads. It is believed

This was one of the most normal way of how the system was working. However, the Underground Railroad was clearly not strong enough to help all the slaves to escape through the process. There were many other ways for the fugitives to seek help secretly. For example, the many Underground Railroad stations used some symbols or signals so that the slaves could realize it was a safe place to go. Some places “left a lamp lit in a window at night”; others “hung lit lanterns on gates and statues” so that slaves could see them (19,101). Even though most slaves were not allowed to read and write, they used the most traditional ways to pass the secret of Underground Railroad from one to another: stories and songs. For example, there was a song called “The Drinking Gourd”, it showed codes and directions for the runaway slaves to the north. One section of its lyrics sung, “Where the great big river meets the little river; Follow the drinking gourd; the old man is a-waiting to take you to freedom; if you follow the drinking

In Missouri during the 1850’s times were very harsh for slaves. As time went on there were ways slaves were escaping, especially through the underground railroad that Harriet Tubman mainly worked on. At its peak about 1,000 slaves were escaping every year. There were more than 5,00 court cases recorded on escaped slaves. Underground railroad people used certain codes to maintain the escape anonymous. Slaves were referred to as passengers or cargo while the hiding places they hid in were stations or depots. The main people that aided and helped the slaves escape were the main people so they were considered conductors or engineers. The conductors were the ones that suffered the most rather than the slaves, they experienced uncomfortable situations,

The Underground Railroad was a major development that united a diverse group of people for a common goal. Slaves were able to escape and went to a free land where they were considered free. The slaves would have to live in seclusion to avoid being found by slave catchers and returned to the terrible conditions from which they fled. Helpers, also known as conductors, assisted many slaves on their journey to freedom by concealing them in secure places and provided the slaves with food and information needed to continue the expedition. The developments of the places used to hide fugitives were basic wagons, rooms, and closets. There were peculiar spaces like specially built shelters, tunnels, and improvised rooms in strange places. The risks to

Being a slave in the United States was not uncommon in the 19th century. There were many brutalities of being a slave including physical and spiritual abuse. Slaves were considered property and not as human beings. They were mistreated and kept illiterate. The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave is a autobiography written by Frederick Douglass himself that told of his experiences of being a slave in the United States. He expresses the brutality the slave owners and how he struggled with running away to become a free human being. The themes of his story include: the ignorance of slaves, the treatment of slaves as property, religion used as justification, and the victimization of female slaves.

The Underground Railroad was a path of unknown ways and some secret locations used by 19th century slaves of African fall in the New World in attempts to get to free states and Canada with the support of abolitionists and allies who were encouraging to their cause. This period is also appeal to the abolitionists, black and white, free and enslaved, who helped the refugees. The network also supplied a chance for against slave white Americans to take an opinion and play an important role in undercutting the industry called

routes called lines. The ones who assisted the runaway slaves were called conductors and the

Soon the slaves created ways of escaping and exacting their revenge. They would fake illness, commit arson and murder against the slave owners. They would become part of the Abolitionist

Traveling through the Underground Railroad was an extended a dangerous journey for refugee slaves to extend their freedom. Fugitive slaves had to travel huge distances, many times on foot, in a short amount of time. They did this with little or no food and no shelter from the slave catchers following them. Slave holders were not the only pursuers of refugee slaves. In order to attract others to help in the arrest of these slaves, their owners would post bonus posters offering payment for the capture of their property. If they were caught, any number of horrible things could happen to them. Many captured refugee slaves were whipped, burned, jailed, sold back into slavery, or even killed.

The underground railroad was a network of northerners that helped slaves reached the north and Canada for safety from their plantation. It was secret and railway terms were used to describe system as a way to hide the real nature of the operation. The underground railroad extended from Maine to Nebraska but was most concentrated in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indian, New York, and The New England States. More of the more specific spots were Detroit, Michigan, Erie, Pennsylvania, Buffalo and New York.