Pathway to Freedom-Underground Railroads The Underground Railroad was not an actual railroad at all. It was a network of Americans, both black and white that dedicated their life’s to destroy the institution of slavery. This network was a group that helped individual slaves escape to freedom in the north. The history of the Underground Railroad is rich in history and bursting with danger, full of drama, tragedy, joy, evil slave hunters and anonymous heroes and second chances for slaves. Both men and woman in this network were able to set aside the assumptions about the other race and work together. These Underground railroads provided shelter and food for the fugitives who were escaping from slavery. The houses that provided shelter for
The Underground Railroad gave runaway slaves a sense of hope because it sheltered them and helped free slaves so they could start a new life. The Underground Railroad was a network of secret tunnels used to house runaway slaves as they tried to escape slavery and make it to the Northern States. The network of tunnels extended through 14 Northern States and Canada until fugitive slave hunters could not get them.
Foner describes the railroad as, “The picture that emerges from recent studies is not of the highly organized system with tunnels, codes, and clearly defined routes and stations of popular lore, but of an interlocking series of local networks, each of whose fortunes rose and fell over time, but which together helped a substantial number of fugitives reach safety in the free states and Canada.” Foner also noted how the railroad contributed to, “a rare instance in antebellum
The Underground Railroad was a system of transportation, used for slaves to escape and be free. Conductors led slaves north towards the Canadian border. Approximately 100,000 slaves escaped their owners between 1810 and 1850 (The Underground Railroad). The Underground Railroad caused conflict between the North and South because Southerners wanted slaves to help with their work on the farms, but most Northerners refused the idea of slavery and helped them escape because they thought it was
The underground railroad was formed as a result of the harsh and legal repercussions faced by recaptured slaves as stated in the Fugitive Slave
Tam Do Mrs. Meador English I Pre-IP – Period 2 9/10/2015 HISTORY Event: the Underground Railroad Date: 1800s Description: The Underground Railroad was a network of people working together to free slaves from the South during the 1800s. They would go into the South, get as many slaves as they can, and risk their life to get them to a safe house.
The Underground Railroad was neither a railroad nor underground. It was a system of secret routes and people who helped African American Slaves escape to the North and to Canada during the 19th century. Why was it called that? The reason it was named “The Underground Railroad” was because it was figuratively underground as the network was illegal so they needed to stay “underground” to keep from being caught. The word “railroad” was used because the railroad was a rising mean for transportation and its users used railroad code to talk to each other in secret.
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
The Underground Railroad was a network of people that helped fugitive slaves get to the freeland (northern U.S. and Canada). It was not ran/maintained by one person or organization, instead it was made up of lots of individuals. Some of these people were white, but most were black. It effectively moved hundreds of slaves northward yearly (according to an estimate, 100,000 slaves were moved up north between the years 1810 and 1850). Though that seems to be a big number, still, lots of slaves were
The Underground Railroad was a systematic network of people working together to help slaves in the South escape and come to liberation. People also called “conductors” would help guide fugitive slaves toward designated hiding spots across the North. They included schools, churches, as well as people’s personal homes. Among the many former slaves that contributed to the cause, individuals who made a significant difference in the movement were Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass. Both were born into slavery, and the former of the two repeatedly returned to her old plantation to liberate family and friends. Douglass rescued over 400 slaves, keeping them in his own home and helping them get to
The Underground Railroad was a road to freedom which consisted of an enormous system of people who helped fugitive slaves flee to the North and to Canada. It was run by many Caucasians, or abolitionists, but mainly African Americans, or slaves (Heinrichs 8). The Underground Railroad was a danger which many risked their own lives to save the ones of slaves. This wouldn’t have been able to happen if it weren’t for their secrecy and braveness. The Underground Railroad was an immense success due to the secrecy of the operation that slaves used to gain 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 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 Underground Railroad was a network of people who assisted fugitive slaves. Slaves that escaped from the south to the North and then to Canada. Run away slaves received assistance along the way from individuals who were involved in this network. The organization became successful the estimated 1810 and 1850, 100,000 slaves escaped from the South through the Underground Railroad. The abolition of slavery had been a concern for anti-slavery advocates since the inception of slavery. The first abolitionist society was in Pennsylvania in 1775. In time, individual anti-slavery advocates directly assisted in run away slaves escapes. Soon the Underground railroad became out in the open, others helped and a secret organization wasn’t so much of a
“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
The simple fact is that everybody has heard of the Underground Railroad, but not everyone knows just what it was. First of all, it wasn=t underground, and it wasn=t even a railroad. The term AUnderground Railroad,@ actually refers to a path along which escaping slaves were passed from farmhouse to storage sheds, from cellars to barns, until they reached safety in the North. One of the most widely known abolitionists in history is a slave by the name of Harriet Tubman. She is best known as the conductor of the Underground Railroad and risked her life to help free nearly 300 slaves. The primary importance of the Underground Railroad was the ongoing fight to abolish slavery, the start of the Civil War,