What Is The Myth Of 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.

The Underground Railroad was the path that slaves took while escaping. It consisted of stations or "depots" (houses), " conductors" (those who lived in the homes), "tracks" ( the actual trail they took) and even " station masters" and "presidents" who led the efforts in their area. The railroad analogy was used to describe many aspects of this anti-slavery activity. The code helped those involved in freeing the slaves communicate with each other without others understanding.

Slavery is a disappointing example of inhuman behavior, a dark past in our history books. Two stories demonstrate the cruelty of slavery while living on a plantation. Harriet Tubman: Conductor on the underground railroad and “The People Could Fly” give two different encounters on the topic of slavery. Harriet Tubman: Conductor on the underground railroad is a biography and “The People Could Fly” is a historical fiction. Both would make one wonder, what is there to live for when freedom does not exist in your life? The two different genres of books are able to give readers an understanding of how heart-wrenching and depressing life of a slave was. Both show the family of slaves taking care of one another. They show the fatherhood even though the slaves are going through harsh conditions, the way the story is told and what kind of story it is, and the secret language that the slaves have.

Harriet Jacobs and Frederick Douglass both wrote narratives that detailed their lives as slaves in the antebellum era. Both of these former slaves managed to escape to the North and wanted to expose slavery for the evil thing it was. The accounts tell equally of depravity and ugliness though they are different views of the same rotten institution. Like most who managed to escape the shackles of slavery, these two authors share a common bond of tenacity and authenticity. Their voices are different—one is timid, quiet, and almost apologetic while the other one is loud, strong, and confident—but they are both authentic. They both also through out the course of their narratives explain their desires to be free from the horrible practice of slavery.

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.

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?

To understand the special role quilts may have played in the Underground Railroad, we first have to understand the life and times of the people who lived during the years the railroad was running, approximately 1830-1862. These times were politically turbulent and impossible to summarize in a few brief paragraphs. This article should be considered an overview only.

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.

“A national benefit.” said John C. Calhoun about the evil act known as, slavery (“The History of the United States). However the world was not completely full of ignorance even though it is shown here. “Whenever I hear anyone arguing for slavery, I feel a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally,” said by Abraham Lincoln. (“Quotes About Slavery”) No one had experienced anything other than a world with slavery, and were not for having a change like this occur and change many people’s lives one by one. This, lead to many people, including many Southerners taking the side of John C. Calhoun. Because, lets face it. No one actually likes change. But in the early 1800s it soon became a problem that abolitionists, people against slavery,

Harriet Jacobs, a black woman who escapes slavery, illustrates in her biography Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (1861) that death is preferable to life as a slave due to the unbearable degradation of being regarded as property, the inevitable destruction of slave children’s innocence, and the emotional and physical pain inflicted by slave masters. Through numerous rhetorical strategies such as allusion, comparison, tone, irony, and paradoxical expression, she recounts her personal tragedies with brutal honesty. Jacobs’s purpose is to combat the deceptive positive portrayals of slavery spread by southern slave holders through revealing the true magnitude of its horrors. Her intended audience is uninvolved northerners, especially women, and she develops a personal and emotionally charged relationship with them.

The Underground Railroad is a well known system that helped many enslaved African Americans escape from their southern masters, to the north. This system is one of the reasons for the start of the civil war between the Union and Confederates in the nineteenth century. Becoming what many slaves saw as their ticket to freedom, Philadelphia helped spark the ambition of the fugitive slaves to escape from their owners and venture through the unknown landscapes of the Northern regions in order to become free black citizens. The Underground Railroad, separating the contradicting ideas of the North and South, pushed the slave and non-slave states to eventually have a civil war

First, the Underground Railroad was a secret network that built upon local knowldege and resources, both black and white, to guide enslaved people to freedom. Conductors, like Harriet Tubman, risked their lives to travel south on organized missions. The fugitives stayed at “safe houses” along the way, but danger was ever present. They were hunted by dogs. They risked arrest by any white person. The amish, quakers, and min nights were the primary people who were the conductors. From their religious perspective they had always opposed slavery, and they were the primary owners of land and farm land along the border states. One of the largerst communities of mininight and quakers is right here in Maryland. Northern Marland was one of major stations

Between 1830 and circa 1865, slaves tried to escape to the north and Canada by using the Underground Railroad. The Underground Railroad operated at night and slaves were either moved from station to station by abolitionists or crept northward on their own, looking for a signal that designated the next safe haven. “Stations” consisted mostly of homes and churches that provided slaves a place to stay and eat for a short amount of time. Occasionally, to keep from getting caught, some white abolitionists would pretend to be a fugitive slave’s master. Sometimes lighter-skinned African-Americans could also take this role. Over three thousand two hundred people worked on the railroad and many of those brave individuals will remain anonymous. Several

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)