Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad

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The Underground Railroad

Background



The Underground Railroad served as an avenue for enslaved people to escape the harsh world of slavery. The railroad's purpose was to help guide runaway slaves to places of freedom, like Canada and Mexico. The travel was long and hard, taking up to a year at times. The runaway men, women, and children had to put their faith in strangers, such as Harriet Tubman, to guide them through the difficult and unfamiliar lands. These strangers gave the Underground Railroad system it's name, by serving as a secret network of people aiding slaves as they searched for freedom.  

Dangers of the Underground Railroad


As much as slaves desired freedom, the Underground Railroad was a very dangerous path to freedom. Runaway slaves had to, often on foot, travel long distances in a very brief amount of time. They had little to no food and also lacked protection from slave catchers who searched for them, trying to get the reward for bringing them back to their owners. Any slave caught trying to runaway would be made an example of, by being flogged, whipped, beaten, and sometimes even hanged. Other than the starvation and threat of being caught, runaway slaves had to fend off wild animals as well as endure terrible weather conditions. Rain or shine, runaway slaves had no time to stop and rest as they moved from railroad to railroad. There was also the The Fugitive Slave Law of 1850, which enabled people in the North to capture the fugitive slaves based on the fact that they were viewed as stolen property. This law also outlawed aiding slaves to escape. No slave was truly safe or free unless they reached Canada. However, not all slaves went to the North to find their freedom, there were also Underground Railroad lines that lead farther South towards Mexico and the Caribbean, where runaways could also find freedom. Not all runaway slaves made it to freedom. Many who did went on to tell their stories of their journey and hardships as a rogue slave. 





Some images of slaves running through the night, searching for freedom

Important Figures 

Anthony Burns

  • He was a fugitive slave 
  • He escaped to the north via the undergound railroad, where he was then taken and arrested
  • He was tried under The Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 Boston, Massachusetts
  • His arrest influenced many black and white abolitionists riot and protest. 
  • After the trial, Burns was sent back to the south to be a slave once again
  • Abolitionists raised funds to buy his freedom. 

Frederick Douglass 

  • He was a fugitive slave who escaped slavery
  • He escaped on a real train by disguising himself as a sailor, and showing a borrowed seaman’s protection certificate that stated a sailor was a citizen of the U.S. 
  • He became a famous abolitionist
  • He created a newspaper known as the North Star, in which he stated what his goals were relating to the abolishment of slavery. 
  • He published an abolitionist paper called the Frederick Douglass Paper
  • He gave public speeches on the importance of freeing slaves 

Susan B. Anthony 

  • She was a well known abolitionist
  • She spoke and wrote in efforts of abolishing slavery
  • She aided many slaves over the course of their journey through the Underground Railroad
Jonathan Walker 
  • He was a sea captain 
  • He was caught off the shore of Florida trying to move fugitive slaves to freedom in the Bahamas
  • He was arrested, imprisoned and branded with the letter “S.S.” which stood for slave stealer

Henry Bibb, Addison White, Josiah Henson and John Parker also all escaped slavery through the Underground Railroad and went on to be free abolitionists in the North.

Passage to Freedom

The "conductors" of the Underground Railroad conductors were free citizens who aided runaway slaves that were traveling through the Underground Railroad. The conductors helped the fugitive slaves by giving them a some what safe passage to and from the different stations. They had to be extremely discrete as to not attract attention from the slave capturers. Multiple times the stations would be within the conductors own homes and businesses. Since they were harboring fugitive slaves, the conductors were in great danger of being caught, prosecuted, and killed. However, they continued to help free slaves because they believed this issues was more important than there own safety. These conductors were people of different races, occupations and social economic levels. Some were former slaves who had escaped using the Underground Railroad and opted to return to the lands of slavery to serve as conductors. Slaves were viewed as a person's property, so freeing slaves was thought as stealing slave owners’ personal property. Any conductor caught helping free slaves could be fined, imprisoned, branded, and even hanged. Conductors of the Underground Railroad opposed slavery, and they were not alone. Abolitionists took action against slavery as the conductors aided slaves escape. The abolition movement started when citizens like as William Lloyd Garrison and Arthur and Lewis Tappen created the American Anti-Slavery Society. This group developed the Declaration of Anti-Slavery, which distributed an annual almanac that has poems, pictures, stories and other abolitionist material.