The Underground Railroad not only benefited slaves, but helped society in numerous ways. The Underground Railroad was a system abolitionists used to help slaves escape to the North. It reunited families who were separated by slavery and made life better for the slaves that were able to escape safely, like Harriet Tubman. People from different backgrounds, races, and religions were involved in the escapes. The Underground Railroad was very dangerous, for slaves and the abolitionists who helped them. The Railroad’s impact later led to more freedom for black men and women in America.
The Underground Railroad was not a railroad, but a system created to help free slaves. The abolitionists and slave owners used railroad terms such as “conductor”,
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They had to endure near-starvation, attacks from wild animals, and severe temperatures. Once they arrived in the North, they still weren’t safe, as the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 allowed slaves to be taken back to the South if they were captured. Slaves faced severe punishments if they were caught, like being beaten, flogged, branded, jailed, sold back into slavery, or even killed. They had to travel to out of the country to be free from this law. Fugitive slaves also had to avoid the “Reverse Underground Railroad”, which was a group of slave catchers who kidnapped black men, women, and children in the North and took them to the South to be sold into slavery, even if they bought their freedom or were born free. To avoid these dangers, some fugitives escaped by other means, including Frederick Douglass and Henry “Box” Brown. Frederick Douglass escaped on an actual train, and since he needed free papers, he used a sailor’s protection certificate. The train conductor didn’t look very closely at his papers, and Douglass stayed on the train. Henry Brown mailed himself to the North in a wooden crate, giving him his nickname, …show more content…
Harriet Tubman made 19 trips to the South, risking her own freedom, to liberate over 300 slaves. William Still, an African-American abolitionist and civil rights activist, helped free nearly 800 slaves in 14 years. Quakers, the “Religious Society of Friends” were some of the earliest abolitionists. In fact, two Quakers, Levi and Catherine Coffin, were believed to have assisted more than 3,000 slaves in escaping. Vigilance committees, or “stockholders” contributed money, goods, and sometimes clothes to the fugitive slaves.
In conclusion, the Underground Railroad was very beneficial to society. It was used by many to escape the cruelty of slavery. Though there were many dangers involved with the Underground Railroad, hundreds of thousands of slaves and abolitionists who assisted them took the risk. There were many people who helped the runaway slaves in any way they could. Though it was a dark time in our history, the Underground Railroad was the beginning of the end of
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 construct of the Transcontinental railroad began in 1863 and ended in 1869. After it was complete people used it very much to travel across the country and people still it today to travel to places. People offend only believe the railroad was one of the most amazing that happen to our country and it only caused great things to happen. However, this is not all true. The railroad did cause great things like it helped increase westward expansion in the United States of America but it also caused a lot of horrible things like causing the removal of many Native American tribes in the west. So, after the Transcontinental Railroad was completed, there were positives effect but also negative effects that occur in the US.
The Underground Railroad was a huge success lasting for decades and freed around one hundred thousand slaves by 1850 (History.com). The events of the railroad happened all over the country, each trip different and all routes kept secret, but slaves from the South would escape in small groups of three to five in an attempt to pass the Ohio River to Northern Free states. Slaves mainly traveled by foot in small groups, occasionally a slave would travel by boat or train, but wagon or foot was easiest as the night provided cover and there were set up safe houses (Wikipedia). The underlying causes of the Underground Railroad was as a means of escape from the harsh lives most slaves lived. The events that caused the construction of the Underground Railroad are unknown but is believed to be started by Quakers in the late 1700s (History.com). The Underground Railroad was a huge success bringing thousands of slaves into freedom a year, giving them hope for a better
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
Thousands of enslaved african americans lived in the south and was ⅓ of the south’s population, slavery violated the rights of human rights of thousands of african americans. If it wasn't for Abraham Lincoln and thousands of his supporters, The underground railroad saved the lives of thousands of african americans. The most famous legend is Harriet Tubman, she herself saved the lives of thousands and was
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 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.
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.
"Oppressed slaves should flee and take Liberty Line to freedom." The Underground Railroad began in the 1780s while Harriet Tubman was born six decades later in antebellum America. The Underground Railroad was successful in its quest to free slaves; it even made the South pass two acts in a vain attempt to stop its tracks. Then, Harriet Tubman, an African-American with an incredulous conviction to lead her people to the light, joins the Underground Railroad’s cause becoming one of the leading conductors in the railroad. The Underground Railroad and Harriet Tubman aided in bringing down slavery and together, they put the wood in the fires leading up to the Civil War. The greatest causes of the Civil War were the Underground Railroad
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 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, 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
Slavery has always been an anomaly, although abolitionists such as Harriet Tubman did much to ameliorate, and later, abolish slavery. Harriet was a strong and courageous woman and a well-known conductor of the Underground Railroads, around the 1850s. Harriet Tubman personal experiences throughout her life have shaped her to become the stout-hearted woman who helped many slaves escape to freedom, by using the Underground Railroad—a network of secret routes.
“The Underground Railroad was the term used to describe a network of meeting places, secret routes, passageways, and safe houses used by slaves in the U.S. to escape slaveholding states to northern states and Canada.”(History.Net Editors, Paragraph #1). A trip on the Underground Railroad was full of danger. The slaves wanted to get away from their slave owners. Most of this usually happened at night. The big conflict was over the South and North disagreeing about whether slavery should be permitted. It was mainly the South who wanted slaves. This was so they could have people work for them without paying them. The South liked this because they could save their money to buy more slaves