However, historians who study the Railroad struggle to separate truth from myth. These images of the Underground Railroad stuck in the minds of the nation, and they captured the hearts of writers, who told suspenseful stories of dark, dangerous passages and dramatic enslaved person escapes. Patrols seeking to catch enslaved people were frequently hot on their heels.
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Lanterns in the windows welcomed them and promised safety. The conductors and passengers traveled from safe-house to safe-house, often with 16-19 kilometers (10–20 miles) between each stop.
Due to the danger associated with capture, they conducted much of their activity at night. According to historical accounts of the Railroad, conductors often posed as enslaved people and snuck the runaways out of plantations. There were people from many occupations and income levels, including former enslaved persons. The places that sheltered the runaways were referred to as “stations,” and the people who hid the enslaved people were called “station masters.” The fugitives traveling along the routes were called “passengers,” and those who had arrived at the safe houses were called “cargo.”Ĭontemporary scholarship has shown that most of those who participated in the Underground Railroad largely worked alone, rather than as part of an organized group. “Conductors” guided runaway enslaved people from place to place along the routes. As the network grew, the railroad metaphor stuck. The people who worked for the Underground Railroad had a passion for justice and drive to end the practice of slavery-a drive so strong that they risked their lives and jeopardized their own freedom to help enslaved people escape from bondage and keep them safe along the route.Īccording to some estimates, between 18, the Underground Railroad helped to guide one hundred thousand enslaved people to freedom. It also did not run underground, but through homes, barns, churches, and businesses. It was not an actual railroad, but it served the same purpose-it transported people long distances. The name “Underground Railroad” was used metaphorically, not literally. Join Hoopla to read about the Underground Railroad and learn more about our current exhibit Through Darkness to Light: Photographs Along the Underground Railroad.During the era of slavery, the Underground Railroad was a network of routes, places, and people that helped enslaved people in the American South escape to the North. Read more about this South Carolina event from the Black Past online reference center. Second South Carolina Volunteers in the Combahee River Raid which liberated more than 700 enslaved people. On June 2, 1863, Harriet Tubman, under the command of Union Colonel James Montgomery, led 150 black Union soldiers who were part of the U.S. “Harriet Tubman and the Comabahee River Raid in South Carolina” Follow her journey via this quick and interesting read from Smithsonian Magazine. Maryland’s Eastern Shore is home to many historical sites and parks devoted to the heroine of the Underground Railroad. William Still was the director of a complex network of abolitionists, sympathizers and safe houses that stretched from Philadelphia to what is now Southern Ontario. Underground Railroad: The William Still Story (online documentary)Įnjoy this short online documentary from PBS, which tells the story of a humble Philadelphia clerk who risked his life shepherding runaway slaves to freedom in the tumultuous years leading up to America’s Civil War. There was such a glory over everything, the sun came like gold through the trees, and over the fields, and I felt like I was in heaven.”
“I looked at my hands to see if I was the same person now I was free.
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