The Underground Railroad : A Chance For Freedom

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 late 19th Century was a revolutionizing period in American History evident by the Industrial Revolution and the Civil War. However, it was the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad which profoundly changed the United States. The discovery of gold, the acquisition of Mexican territories and the continued settlement of the West increased the need for a primary railway system connecting the East and the West Coasts.

In 1849, Tubman set her mind of escaping to the north. On September 17, 1849, Tubman with her two brothers, Ben and Harry, left Maryland. After seeing runaway notice offering $300, Ben and Harry had reconsiderations and returned to the plantation. Tubman, with her strong will, continued to escape nearly 90 miles to Philadelphia for her freedom using the secret network known as the Underground Railroad. The Underground Railroad was neither a rail road nor underground. The routes taken at night to were called “lines” and at places they stopped to rest were called “stationed”. “Conductors” such as Harriet Tubman and Quaker Thomas used their knowledge and luck to securely free slaves from slave states to the Free states. (Biography, 2017) As she cross the state line into Pennsylvania she recalled “When I found I had crossed that line, I looked at my hands to see if I was the same person. There was such a glory over everything; the sun came like gold through the trees, and over the fields, and I felt like I was in Heaven”

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 wasn't underground or a railroad, it was a secret way of freeing slaves, people would walk from safe house to safe house or to different hiding places on their way to being free black people. A conductor may have been a white person who was helping the slaves, and the stations were the stops they would make along the way. The freight was another name for the slaves. The lines were a code name

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 series of routes that slaves would use to escape the ownership of their owners. It helped slaves escape and the people who would help the “underground railroad” function were white abolitionists who would hide the escapees in secret places, while supplying them with food and the things necessary to live. The Underground Railroad helped many slaves escape to the North.

The success of the Underground Railroad could not have been reached without the assistance of some people. Harriet Tubman was considered the Moses of the Underground Railroad. Tubman was a runaway slave who risked her life help others escape to the north. Tubman secretly met with escaped slaves and led them to the north on a path she knew by heart. Tubman was one of the most effective and fearless conductors of the Underground Railroad. She always planned each journey ahead to assure the freedom of the slaves she traveled with. Tubman also

A strong and powerful lady said these wise words: “There was one of two things I had a right to, liberty or death; if I could not have one, I would have the other; for no man should take me alive; I should fight for my liberty as long as my strength lasted, and when the time came for me to go, the Lord would let them take me”. The brave women who said these words were Harriet Tubman and she was one of the leaders of the Underground Railroad that helped slaves reach freedom. “Although not an actual railroad of steel rails, locomotives and steam engines, the Underground Railroad was real nevertheless” (encyclopedia The Civil War and African Americans 329) The term “Underground Railroad” referred to the

The Underground Railroad was a system of individuals who helped escaped slaves to obtain their freedom in the northern part of the states, even as far as Canada. “The Underground Railroad was the first American civil rights movement” (Snodgrass) which managed to operate secretly for more than fifty years. While there was no actual railroad underground, there was an organized network of secret routes and houses to help refugee slaves to their freedom.

Underground Railroad The Underground Railroad was not only a passage to freedom but also to equality. As a slowly established organization in the early 1800s, it impacted the lives of many people especially slaves (History.net). Many slaves found freedom through the secret passages of the Underground Railroad with the raging fear of being caught. The Underground Railroad is a secret passage to the North slowing leading slaves to freedom.

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 was neither underground nor a railroad” (Foner). The reason why The Underground Railroad got its name was because the activities that were taking place on it had to be done quietly and secretively. Stopping places alone the Underground Railroad were known as stations. The people who were so kind to help along the railroad were known as conductors. Harriet Tubman was one of the most famous conductors to have used the Underground Railroad. Tubman took 19 trips using the Underground Railroad to help free more than three hundred slaves.

     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