Underground Railroad Research Paper

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.

culture. Starting at the time of slavery to relay information about safe routes in the Underground

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?

American Experience: Transcontinental Railroad. The railroad was a very big accomplishment in America's history. Transcontinental Railroad showed more then anything America's persistence, intellectual advancement, and above all else, Courage. This accomplishment came with many hardships and many sacrifices as well as achievements. While this accomplishment shows the good traits of America like drive and courage, It also reveled the darker traits of America, like betrayal, inequality, and most of all, greed. This paper will go over, How the Transcontinental Railroad was set into motion, the construction of the railroad and how it was used.

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.

PART I The Underground Railroad was a network of people, African American as well as Caucasians, who assisted escaped slaves from the South by offering shelter, aid and protection. It 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 slave holding states to northern states and Canada It developed as a joint effort of several different clandestine groups most notably the Quakers who were the first known group to take on the effort. The activities of the underground railroad operated from the early 1800s to the Civil War however, the exact dates of its existence are unknown.

The Transcontinental Railroad, first known as the Pacific Railroad was an almost a 2000-mile railroad line. It was constructed over a span of six years between 1863 and 1869. It connected the eastern U.S. rail network in Iowa with the Pacific coast at San Francisco Bay.

The Underground Railroad might sound deceiving, but it actually never went underground and it wasn’t a railroad. The Underground Railroad did get its name due to the fact that it had to be kept a secret and a lot of the terms that were used throughout the slave escape route in order to describe how it worked was railroad terms. Routes would be called lines, stopping places along the way such as safe houses would be called stations, those who would aid along the way would be called conductors and their charges were known as freight. The various routes extended all the way through 14 Northern States and through the “Promise Land” of Canada, which was far beyond the reach of slave hunters. Those who would assist people on the railroad were member

A Journey Along the Underground Railroad The Underground Railroad inspired slaves to seek freedom by showing them that it was possible to seize their own liberty, that they would live better lives as free people, and that there were Americans willing to support them. While escaping on the Underground Railroad, slaves bonded with each other and created new activities to pass the time, enhancing their existing slave culture. Slaves living all throughout the South shared the goal of escaping their horrid plantations and slavery, and the Underground Railroad was a route that united them on their road to freedom. Fugitive slaves gained abolitionist allies in Quakers and Northern Whites who risked their own lives by helping them escape to freedom.

This does not come as a shock considering how much easier it was to be hidden within these shipping vessels, out of sight and—at times—out of mind of their masters. Traveling over land was much riskier when taking the Underground Railroad to the elusive freedom being sought after (Cecelski, 174).

The author will investigate the Underground Railroad’s work to resist against slavery during the Civil War. The author will collaborate on the dealings of people who were leaders of the Underground Railroad, U.S. political stance on slavery, and the actions that were carried out for the cause of freedom. The authors main focus of the paper will be centered on operations of the Underground Railroad, members involved, struggles they went through to free enslaved people. The writer will go into detail of the Underground Railroad leaders operations. The presentation will be based on sources from an online database jstor.org. Thus, this paper will be about resistance against slavery, and the leaders of the Underground Railroad and their efforts to abolish slavery.

The Underground Railroad did no 't always have a name, it was just a process, sometimes organized into a network but most of the time not, in which slaves escaped north to the free states. The free states were the north, because the Ssouth still believed in slavery while the Nnorth wanted to end it. The term The Underground Railroad was used by George Washington in the 1780s but didn 't pick up until the 1830s. “... it was common by the mid-1840s to speak and write of the Underground Railroad as a clandestine system for runaway slaves.” (Blight).” The people who helped in the Underground Railroad were called conductors. Most of the conductors were escaped slaves that

The Underground Railroad, established by abolitionists in the early 19th century, was a dynamic and well-organized network for escaping slaves seeking rights and liberty from ruthless slave owners in the southern part of the United States with Canada as their main terminus in 1850-60. In this decade an estimated 15,000 to 20,000 fugitives reached Canada, while another 30,000 to 40,000 freedom seekers came through The Underground Railroad during the last decades of enslavement in the U.S. These African-American newcomers settled mainly in New Brunswick, Quebec, Nova Scotia, as well as various parts of present day Ontario. Amherstburg, Chatham, London, Oro, Woolwich, Windsor and Sandwich, Ontario became the first sanctuaries for those of the

From 1800-1865, 100,000 slaves escaped from the Underground Railroad due to the harsh conditions they faced throughout their lives. The underground railroad was a successful way for many former slaves to become free. The underground railroad was not actually a railroad. It consisted of secret routes, safe houses, and other locations. The escaped slaves would hide out in churches, houses, barns and other places that had extra rooms for hiding. These locations were provided by the freed African Americans and whites that were against slavery. Numerous of fugitives failed to escape due to the search dogs and the townspeople searching for them because they were considered “dangerous”. The slaves that did escape went to Canada, Mexico, or anywhere else where they could be free and not live in slavery. A great number of people were involved with the underground railroad; concluding some whites and Native Americans. However the majority of people helping the fugitives escape were freed African Americans. Helping people escape the underground railroad was a dangerous job innumerable conductors had to live in constant fear of being caught by the local police and townspeople. Due to the slave trade there was a constant movement of slaves being brought into the United States and slaves escaping.

The routes of the Underground Railroad were complicated and often zigzagged to confuse slave hunters. The one problem with this was it often confused the runaway slaves also. Due to this there are obviously plenty of stories about slaves getting lost and sometimes instead of going north they would accidentally head south.