The Underground Railroad Research Paper

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.

Plantation life is all they have known. Growing up on a huge plot of land where you are surrounded by a hundred people, all the same race as you, watching your friends get in fights, get beat by a white person, hearing screams of pain and terror all by yourself. In “The Underground Railroad,” by Colson Whitehead, Cora is a dynamic character who changes from a traumatized, emotionally drained character to an independent, determine young women as she experiences many life-changing events clarifying the theme, if you set your mind to it, you can overcome anything. Cora was a young girl who experienced hardships from the very beginning.

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.

In 1850, representatives of Clinton County tried to introduce the bill again. Both houses opposed it, but eventually the bill passed and the governor signed it. However, there was an important stipulation to the bill; it could only go into effect after it was published in the newspapers; Iowa City Reporter and the Iowa Freeman of Mt. Pleasant. Fortunately, the Freeman refused to publish it, thus effectively stopping the bill from becoming law (History of Clinton County, 54). Nevertheless, there was another legal move to block runaway slaves from achieving freedom, this time from the United States Government. Before the Federal Government passed the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, slaves felt safe if they could run away to a free state. However, after this law went into effect slave catchers everywhere hunted them. The Fugitive Slave Act brought the problem of slavery to “Iowa’s doorstep” (History of Clinton County, 54).

However in the novel, The Underground Railroad, by Colson Whitehead, freedom is just a dream every African American character desires. Whether enslaved or free they must navigate the impossible choice between slavery or racism. The stigma of colored people create this idea that Ridgeway believes "If niggers were supposed to have their freedom, they wouldn't be in chains. If the red man was supposed to keep hold of his land, it'd still be his. If the white man wasn't destined to take this new world, he wouldn't own it now." (Whitehead) Similarly, any white person who feels sympathy for the enslaved is confronted with the fact that if they choose to assist enslaved people, they will likely be killed along with their families.

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.

Ida B. Wells-Barnett’s Southern Horrors was published with the intention of bringing awareness to the injustice of Southern lynching and exposing its true purpose. With the Confederate Army’s defeat and the reunification of the United States at the end of the Civil War, thousands of previously enslaved African-Americans suddenly found themselves freed from their owners. This newfound freedom however, was not nearly at the same level as whites and other minorities. Especially in the south, many former slaves were subjected to cruel treatment and a lack of opportunities. “The South resented giving the Afro-American his freedom, the ballot box and the Civil Rights Law.” Many former slaves were threatened with violence if they did not stay

Slavery was a dark time in America’s past. Not only did slavery separate millions of families, it destroyed the white man’s reputation to African people. Many slave owners treated their slaves well, many did not. They forced their slaves to live in deplorable conditions. Malnutrition and overworking often led to death. If you were a slave, would you risk it all and try to run away? You might not have a choice if you wanted to stay alive.

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?

In the South, the slaves were treated poorly. The free slaves were discriminated against because of their skin color. At the time, many Blacks became free because of the reduced plantation profits in the late 1700s. Regardless of their freedom, they were still working for white employers and had many restrictions. They were limited through freedom of movement, economics options, and protection by the law. The book gives the example of Ester Fells who was beaten by her White neighbor because she was ‘disturbing his peace’. The police, in addition, whipped Fells more for “being insolent to a white person”. However, free Blacks boys could become apprentices and eventually make independent living.

In the non-fiction book “Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl,” by Harriet A. Jacobs and published in Boston in 1861. The author Jacobs was born into slavery in 1813, in a town called Edenton, North Carolina. Jacob uses the pseudonym Linda Brent to narrate her first person account. The book opens with Jacobs stating her reasons for writing a biography of her life story. Her story is agonizing and she had rather have kept it confidential, although she felt that by making it public that perhaps it might help the antislavery movement. A preface by Linda Child, states in the beginning of the book, “READER, be assured this narrative is no fiction. I am aware that some of my adventures may seem incredible; but they are, nevertheless, strictly true” (Jacobs 5). I would like to explain the main themes in this story, they include family and community, dangers of slavery for women, motherhood, and altogether the corrupting power of slavery, religion, and last but not least perseverance.

The Underground Railroad was the term used to describe the network of meeting places, secret routes, passageways and safe houses used by slaves in the U.S. to escape slave holding states to the northern States in Canada. Established in the early 1800s in aided by people involved in the Abolitionist Movement, the Underground Railroad helped thousands of slaves escape bondage. Buy one estimate, 100,000 slaves escape from bondage in the south between 1810 and 1850. Aiding them in their fight was a system of safe houses and abolitionist determined to free as many slaves as possible, even though such actions violated state laws in the United States Constitution. Even even before the 1800s, a system to a bet runaway seems to have existed.

The Underground Railroad was used on a network of people, African American and also white, who offered aid and a place for them to stay to the slaves who had escaped from the south. And as it was developing as a convergence of the various different clandestine attempts. The exact dates of when the railroad is not known but had operated in the late 18th century to the Civil War. So at points, it’s effort continued undermine its Confederacy in a secretive fashion.

(2) Perhaps the most effective and dramatic aspect of The Underground Railroad was Mr. Whitehead’s decision to present characters with little or no background information and then detail that information in dramatic fashion in later chapters devoted exclusively to that character. This decision by the author to “jump around in time and space” was especially noteworthy with respect to Cora’s mother, Mabel. Throughout the novel, we are led to believe that Mabel had run away from the Randall plantation while purposely leaving her young daughter behind to suffer as a slave. Cora is portrayed repeatedly as resenting her mother for not taking her when she had escaped. “Once Mabel ran, Cora thought of her as little as possible. After landing in South Carolina, she realized that she had banished her mother not from sadness but from rage. She hated her.” (98) Further, despite extensive searches by the slave catcher, Ridgeway, no evidence of

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