What Were Slaves On The Underground Railroad Called? (Solved)

The free individuals who helped runaway slaves travel toward freedom were called conductors, and the fugitive slaves were referred to as cargo. The safe houses used as hiding places along the lines of the Underground Railroad were called stations.

What were the underground railroad workers called?

People known as “conductors” guided the fugitive enslaved people. Hiding places included private homes, churches and schoolhouses. These were called “stations,” “safe houses,” and “depots.” The people operating them were called “ stationmasters.”

What code word was often used for the slaves on the Underground Railroad?

The code words often used on the Underground Railroad were: “ tracks ” (routes fixed by abolitionist sympathizers); “stations” or “depots” (hiding places); “conductors” (guides on the Underground Railroad); “agents” (sympathizers who helped the slaves connect to the Railroad); “station masters” (those who hid slaves in

What groups made up the Underground Railroad?

Those who most actively assisted slaves to escape by way of the “railroad” were members of the free black community (including such former slaves as Harriet Tubman), Northern abolitionists, philanthropists, and such church leaders as Quaker Thomas Garrett.

What was an abolitionist in the Underground Railroad?

Conductors included former slaves, such as Frederick Douglass, a prominent abolitionist who directed activities in Rochester, New York, and Harriet Tubman, a fugitive who made 19 journeys back south to lead others north.

What was another name for the Underground Railroad?

The Railroad was often known as the “freedom train” or “Gospel train”, which headed towards “Heaven” or “the Promised Land”, i.e., Canada. William Still, sometimes called “The Father of the Underground Railroad”, helped hundreds of slaves escape (as many as 60 a month), sometimes hiding them in his Philadelphia home.

What did the term Underground Railroad refer to?

The Underground Railroad—the resistance to enslavement through escape and flight, through the end of the Civil War—refers to the efforts of enslaved African Americans to gain their freedom by escaping bondage. Wherever slavery existed, there were efforts to escape.

Why did Harriet Tubman wear a bandana?

As was the custom on all plantations, when she turned eleven, she started wearing a bright cotton bandana around her head indicating she was no longer a child. She was also no longer known by her “basket name”, Araminta. Now she would be called Harriet, after her mother.

What’s Harriet Tubman’s real name?

The person we know as “Harriet Tubman” endured decades in bondage before becoming Harriet Tubman. Tubman was born under the name Araminta Ross sometime around 1820 (the exact date is unknown); her mother nicknamed her Minty.

What does the code word liberty lines mean?

Other code words for slaves included “freight,” “passengers,” “parcels,” and “bundles.” Liberty Lines – The routes followed by slaves to freedom were called “liberty lines” or “freedom trails.” Routes were kept secret and seldom discussed by slaves even after their escape.

Does the Underground Railroad still exist?

It includes four buildings, two of which were used by Harriet Tubman. Ashtabula County had over thirty known Underground Railroad stations, or safehouses, and many more conductors. Nearly two-thirds of those sites still stand today.

Does the Underground Railroad exist?

Nope! Despite its name, the Underground Railroad wasn’t a railroad in the way Amtrak or commuter rail is. It wasn’t even a real railroad. The Underground Railroad of history was simply a loose network of safe houses and top secret routes to states where slavery was banned.

Who financed the Underground Railroad?

5: Buying Freedom Meanwhile, so-called “stockholders” raised money for the Underground Railroad, funding anti-slavery societies that provided ex-slaves with food, clothing, money, lodging and job-placement services. At times, abolitionists would simply buy an enslaved person’s freedom, as they did with Sojourner Truth.

Why did Harriet Tubman became an abolitionist?

Harriet Tubman escaped from slavery in the South to become a leading abolitionist before the American Civil War. She led hundreds of enslaved people to freedom in the North along the route of the Underground Railroad.

What did Levi Coffin do?

Levi Coffin, (born October 28, 1798, New Garden [now in Greensboro], North Carolina, U.S.—died September 16, 1877, Cincinnati, Ohio), American abolitionist, called the “President of the Underground Railroad,” who assisted thousands of runaway slaves on their flight to freedom.

Who is a famous abolitionist?

Five Abolitionists

• Frederick Douglass, Courtesy: New-York Historical Society.
• William Lloyd Garrison, Courtesy: Metropolitan Museum of Art.
• Angelina Grimké, Courtesy: Massachusetts Historical Society.
• John Brown, Courtesy: Library of Congress.
• Harriet Beecher Stowe, Courtesy: Harvard University Fine Arts Library.

Underground Railroad Terminology

Written by Dr. Bryan Walls As a descendant of slaves who traveled the Underground Railroad, I grew up enthralled by the stories my family’s “Griot” told me about his ancestors. It was my Aunt Stella who was known as the “Griot,” which is an African name that means “keeper of the oral history,” since she was the storyteller of our family. Despite the fact that she died in 1986 at the age of 102, her mind remained keen till the very end of her life. During a conversation with my Aunt Stella, she informed me that John Freeman Walls was born in 1813 in Rockingham County, North Carolina and journeyed on the Underground Railroad to Maidstone, Ontario in 1846.

Many historians believe that the Underground Railroad was the first big liberation movement in the Americas, and that it was the first time that people of many races and faiths came together in peace to fight for freedom and justice in the United States.

Escaped slaves, as well as those who supported them, need rapid thinking as well as a wealth of insight and information.

The Underground Railroad Freedom Movement reached its zenith between 1820 and 1865, when it was at its most active.

1. A Kentucky fugitive slave by the name of Tice Davids allegedly swam across the Ohio River as slave catchers, including his former owner, were close on his trail, according to legend.
2. He was most likely assisted by nice individuals who were opposed to slavery and wanted the practice to be abolished.
3. “He must have gotten away and joined the underground railroad,” the enraged slave owner was overheard saying.
4. As a result, railroad jargon was employed in order to maintain secrecy and confound the slave hunters.
5. In this way, escaping slaves would go through the forests at night and hide during the daytime hours.
6. In order to satiate their hunger for freedom and proceed along the treacherous Underground Railroad to the heaven they sung about in their songs—namely, the northern United States and Canada—they took this risky route across the wilderness.
7. Despite the fact that they were not permitted to receive an education, the slaves were clever folks.

Freedom seekers may use maps created by former slaves, White abolitionists, and free Blacks to find their way about when traveling was possible during the day time.

The paths were frequently not in straight lines; instead, they zigzagged across wide places in order to vary their smell and confuse the bloodhounds on the trail.

The slaves could not transport a large amount of goods since doing so would cause them to become sluggish.

Enslaved people traveled the Underground Railroad and relied on the plant life they encountered for sustenance and medical treatment.

The enslaved discovered that Echinacea strengthens the immune system, mint relieves indigestion, roots can be used to make tea, and plants can be used to make poultices even in the winter when they are dormant, among other things.

After all, despite what their owners may have told them, the Detroit River is not 5,000 miles wide, and the crows in Canada will not peck their eyes out.

Hopefully, for the sake of the Freedom Seeker, these words would be replaced by lyrics from the “Song of the Fugitive: The Great Escape.” The brutal wrongs of slavery I can no longer tolerate; my heart is broken within me, for as long as I remain a slave, I am determined to strike a blow for freedom or the tomb.” I am now embarking for yonder beach, beautiful land of liberty; our ship will soon get me to the other side, and I will then be liberated.

No more will I be terrified of the auctioneer, nor will I be terrified of the Master’s frowns; no longer will I quiver at the sound of the dogs baying.

All of the brave individuals who were participating in the Underground Railroad Freedom Movement had to acquire new jargon and codes in order to survive. To go to the Promised Land, one needed to have a high level of ability and knowledge.

Underground Railroad

Underground Railroad was a network of people, both black and white, who helped escaped enslaved persons from the southern United States by providing them with refuge and assistance. It came forth as a result of the convergence of numerous separate covert initiatives. Although the exact dates of its inception are unknown, it was active from the late 18th century until the Civil War, after which its attempts to weaken the Confederacy were carried out in a less-secretive manner until the Civil War ended.

Quaker Abolitionists

The Society of Friends (Quakers) is often regarded as the first organized group to actively assist escaped enslaved persons. In 1786, George Washington expressed dissatisfaction with Quakers for attempting to “liberate” one of his enslaved servants. Abolitionist and Quaker Isaac T. Hopper established a network in Philadelphia in the early 1800s to assist enslaved persons who were on the run from slavery. Abolitionist organisations founded by Quakers in North Carolina lay the basis for escape routes and safe havens for fugitive slaves during the same time period.

What Was the Underground Railroad?

According to historical records, the Quakers were the first organized organization to actively assist fugitive slaves. When Quakers attempted to “liberate” one of Washington’s enslaved employees in 1786, George Washington took exception to it. Abolitionist and Quaker Isaac T. Hopper established a network in Philadelphia in the early 1800s to assist enslaved persons who were fleeing their masters’ hands. Abolitionist societies founded by Quakers in North Carolina lay the basis for escape routes and safe havens for fugitives at the same time.

How the Underground Railroad Worked

The Quakers are often regarded as the first organized group to actively assist enslaved persons who had escaped. In 1786, George Washington expressed his displeasure with Quakers for attempting to “liberate” one of his enslaved servants. In the early 1800s, Quaker abolitionist Isaac T. Hopper established a network in Philadelphia to assist enslaved persons who were fleeing their oppressors. Meanwhile, Quakers in North Carolina formed abolitionist organizations that provided the basis for escape routes and safe havens for fugitives.

Fugitive Slave Acts

The Fugitive Slave Acts were a major cause for many fugitive slaves to flee to Canada. This legislation, which was passed in 1793, authorized local governments to catch and extradite fugitive enslaved individuals from inside the borders of free states back to their places of origin, as well as to penalize anybody who assisted the fleeing enslaved people. Personal Liberty Laws were introduced in certain northern states to fight this, but they were overturned by the Supreme Court in 1842. The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 was intended to reinforce the preceding legislation, which was perceived by southern states to be insufficiently enforced at the time of passage.

The northern states were still considered a danger zone for fugitives who had managed to flee.

Some Underground Railroad operators chose to station themselves in Canada and sought to assist fugitives who were arriving to settle in the country.

Harriet Tubman

In many cases, Fugitive Slave Acts were the driving force behind their departure. This legislation, which was passed in 1793, authorized local governments to catch and extradite fugitive enslaved persons from inside the borders of free states back to their places of origin, as well as to penalize anybody who assisted the runaway slaves. Personal Liberty Laws were introduced in several northern states to oppose this, but they were overturned by the Supreme Court in 1842. Aiming to improve on the previous legislation, which southern states believed was being enforced insufficiently, the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 was passed.

It was still considered a risk for an escaped individual to travel to the northern states.

In Canada, some Underground Railroad operators established bases of operations and sought to assist fugitives in settling into their new home country.

Frederick Douglass

In his house in Rochester, New York, former enslaved person and celebrated author Frederick Douglasshid fugitives who were assisting 400 escapees in their journey to freedom in Canada. Reverend Jermain Loguen, a former fugitive who lived in the adjacent city of Syracuse, assisted 1,500 escapees on their journey north. The Vigilance Committee was established in Philadelphia in 1838 by Robert Purvis, an escaped enslaved person who later became a trader. Josiah Henson, a former enslaved person and railroad operator, founded the Dawn Institute in Ontario in 1842 to assist fugitive slaves who made their way to Canada in learning the necessary skills to find work.

Agent,” according to the document.

John Parker was a free Black man living in Ohio who worked as a foundry owner and who used his rowboat to ferry fugitives over the Ohio River.

William Still was a notable Philadelphia citizen who was born in New Jersey to runaway slaves parents who fled to Philadelphia as children.

Who Ran the Underground Railroad?

The vast majority of Underground Railroad operators were regular individuals, including farmers and business owners, as well as preachers and religious leaders. Some affluent individuals were active, including Gerrit Smith, a billionaire who stood for president on two separate occasions. Smith acquired a full family of enslaved people from Kentucky in 1841 and freed them from their captivity. Levi Coffin, a Quaker from North Carolina, is credited with being one of the first recorded individuals to assist escaped enslaved persons.

Coffin stated that he had discovered their hiding spots and had sought them out in order to assist them in moving forward.

Finally, they were able to make their way closer to him. Coffin eventually relocated to Indiana and then Ohio, where he continued to assist fugitive enslaved individuals no matter where he was.

John Brown

Abolitionist John Brown worked as a conductor on the Underground Railroad, and it was at this time that he founded the League of Gileadites, which was dedicated to assisting fleeing enslaved individuals in their journey to Canada. Abolitionist John Brown would go on to play a variety of roles during his life. His most well-known duty was conducting an assault on Harper’s Ferry in order to raise an armed army that would march into the deep south and free enslaved people at gunpoint. Ultimately, Brown’s forces were beaten, and he was executed for treason in 1859.

1. The year 1844, he formed a partnership with Vermont schoolteacher Delia Webster, and the two were jailed for assisting an escaped enslaved lady and her young daughter.
2. Charles Torrey was sentenced to six years in jail in Maryland for assisting an enslaved family in their attempt to flee through Virginia.
3. After being apprehended in 1844 while transporting a boatload of freed slaves from the Caribbean to the United States, Massachusetts sea captain Jonathan Walker was sentenced to prison for life.
4. John Fairfield of Virginia turned down the opportunity to assist in the rescue of enslaved individuals who had been left behind by their families as they made their way north.
5. He managed to elude capture twice.

End of the Line

Operation of the Underground Railroad came to an end in 1863, during the American Civil War. In actuality, its work was shifted aboveground as part of the Union’s overall campaign against the Confederate States of America. Once again, Harriet Tubman made a crucial contribution by organizing intelligence operations and serving as a commanding officer in Union Army efforts to rescue the liberated enslaved people who had been freed. MORE INFORMATION CAN BE FOUND AT: Harriet Tubman led a daring Civil War raid after the Underground Railroad was shut down.

Sources

Bound for Canaan: The Epic Story of the Underground Railroad is a book about the Underground Railroad. Fergus Bordewich is a Scottish actor. A Biography of Harriet Tubman: The Road to Freedom Catherine Clinton is the first lady of the United States. Who Exactly Was in Charge of the Underground Railroad?

‘Henry Louis Gates’ is a pseudonym for Henry Louis Gates. The Underground Railroad’s History in New York is a little known fact. The Smithsonian Institution’s magazine. The Underground Railroad’s Dangerous Allure is well documented. The New Yorker is a publication dedicated to journalism.

Language of Slavery – Underground Railroad (U.S. National Park Service)

While African Americans were subjected to physical bonds, their minds and souls were free to roam the earth. Many of the names used to describe fugitive African Americans were created by the slave-holding socioeconomic system in the South, or by certain condescending abolitionists in the North. Therefore, these expressions tend to represent how slave-holding culture perceived African Americans’ aspirations to achieve independence from slavery. An alternative vocabulary is being used by the National Park Service and its allies, one that is evocative of the freedom that Underground Railroad members dreamt of, worked toward, and finally achieved.

• Abolitionists are prohibited from acting on their antislavery ideals by assisting persons in their attempts to escape slavery.
• This individual may, from time to time, be of assistance to a freedom seeker.
• It is possible for the activist to belong to any ethnic, political, or religious organization.
• It is preferred to the term “slave” since the term “bondsman” implies a condition imposed by the government.
• “Chattel” might be bequeathed in a will, sold, or transferred without the consent of the enslaved person who was the beneficiary.
• A conductor did not have to be a member of an organized section of the Underground Railroad; rather, he or she merely needed to be someone who gave some kind of instruction to the freedom seeking in order to qualify.
• This phrase is frequently used to refer to the freedom of a person or a group.

The term is well-known because of the Emancipation Proclamation, which was issued in January 1863 and released African Americans who had been slaves in the Confederacy.

The name was connected to the numerous Fugitive Slave Laws (1793, 1850) imposed by the United States Congress, and it implies that the “fugitive” was committing a crime by attempting to flee from bondage or slavery.

The emancipation of an individual or group of enslaved African Americans via the power of their will, purchase, legal petition, or legislative intervention.

Individuals might be freed as a favor by slaveowners, or favored persons would be selected to be freed upon the slaveholder’s death.

The terms “manumission” and “emancipation” are sometimes used to refer to different things.

A community or a member of a small group of enslaved African Americans who fled slavery and lived in a remote location is defined as: (like a swamp or the mountains).

It was in the Everglades and in the Great Dismal Swamp that maroon settlements may be found.

He or she may assist in the planning of an escape, act as a “conductor,” or provide assistance to those attempting to flee.

Rights like as habeas corpus, trial by jury, and safeguards from seizure were protected by these statutes, which stood in direct contradiction to the Fugitive Slave Acts of 1793 and 1850 that sought to apprehend and punish anyone who attempted to flee.

Such statutes demonstrate the rising opposition to slavery in the Northern hemisphere.

Booth and United States v.

Enslaved African Americans who were purchased by others in order to be freed from their enslaving conditions.

Some freedom seekers did not want their freedom, which they believed to be a God-given right, if it had to be purchased with money.

Alternatively, an escapee.

The phrases “fugitive” and “asylum seeker” tend to be derogatory toward those seeking asylum.

Alternatively, they may be enslaved.

While not all historical references to “slave and enslaved” are included on this website, the terms are used to describe the tens of millions of abducted Africans who were carried to the Americas and held in bondage from the sixteenth century until the American Civil War.

Although this word pertains to the condition of African Americans from the perspective of slaveholding society, it is especially applicable when a freedom seeking is referred to as a “escaped slave.” The African American desire to reclaim control of his or her status from the slaveholder and place it in the hands of someone of their own choosing is illustrated in Freedom Seeker.

1. For its part, the painting “Enslaved” depicts a person’s position inside the social and economic framework of the dominant society, rather than an internalized or intellectual state.
2. The terms “slaveholder” and “Southerner” are frequently used interchangeably, which is unfortunate.
3. Nonetheless, slavery was so pervasive that slaveholders were able to relocate their property into free nations, particularly after the Dred Scott decision, and utilise that property in the same way they would have done so in slave states.
4. To regionalize slavery, to draw definite borders around such a fluid institution, only serves to restrict a broader, perhaps borderless conceptualization of slavery, freedom seekers, and the Underground Railroad.
5. Members might be low-income whites or wealthy property owners, among other things.
6. They would detain black people and demand “passes” or other types of identification to prove that the black people were not attempting to gain independence.
7. They were referred to as “patrollers” or “patty rollers” by others.
8. The “station,” which served as a safe haven for traveling freedom seekers and was guarded by a stationmaster, came in a variety of shapes and sizes.
9. An individual who gave refuge or a safe haven for those seeking political asylum.

It was the stationmaster’s responsibility to act as a clearinghouse for information about safe routes and surrounding pursuits by authorities, and to communicate with conductors and other stationmasters in order to ensure that freedom seekers were given safe passage upon departure from that station.

The subject was to be released at the conclusion of the predetermined time period. If the slave was sold, the limited number of years of servitude was to be respected. It is regrettable that the difference between “term slave” and “slave for life” was not always adhered to.

Underground Railroad

See how abolitionists in the United States, like as Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, and Thomas Garrett, assisted enslaved people in their attempts to escape to freedom. Learn about the abolitionist movement in the United States, as well as the importance of the Underground Railroad in this historical period. Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc. is a publishing company that publishes encyclopedias. View all of the videos related to this topic. When escaped slaves from the South were secretly assisted by sympathetic Northerners, in defiance of the Fugitive Slave Acts, to reach safe havens in the North or Canada, this was referred to as the Underground Railroad in the United States.

Even though it was neither underground nor a railroad, it was given this name because its actions had to be carried out in secret, either via the use of darkness or disguise, and because railroad words were employed in relation to the system’s operation.

In all directions, the network of channels stretched over 14 northern states and into “the promised land” of Canada, where fugitive-slave hunters were unable to track them down or capture them.

Harriet Beecher Stowe, best known for her novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin, obtained firsthand experience of escaped slaves via her association with the Underground Railroad in Cincinnati, Ohio, where she lived for a time during the Civil War.

The existence of the Underground Railroad, despite the fact that it was only a small minority of Northerners who took part in it, did much to arouse Northern sympathy for the plight of slaves during the antebellum period, while also convincing many Southerners that the North as a whole would never peacefully allow the institution of slavery to remain unchallenged.

When was the first time a sitting president of the United States appeared on television?

Amy Tikkanen has made the most current revisions and updates to this page.

The Underground Railroad

At the time of slavery, the Underground Railroad was a network of routes, locations, and individuals that assisted enslaved persons in the American South in their attempts to flee to freedom in the northern states.

Subjects History of the United States, Social StudiesImage

Home of Levi Coffin

Levi Coffin’s residence in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he lived as an American Quaker and abolitionist. This was a station on the Underground Railroad, a network of routes, locations, and individuals that assisted enslaved persons in escaping to the North during the Civil War. Cincinnati Museum Center provided the photography. “> During the age of slavery, the Underground Railroad was a network of routes, locations, and individuals that assisted enslaved persons in the American South in escaping to the North, according to the Underground Railroad Museum.

Although it was not a real railroad, it fulfilled the same function as one: it carried passengers across large distances.

The people who worked for the Underground Railroad were driven by a passion for justice and a desire to see slavery abolished—a drive that was so strong that they risked their lives and jeopardized their own freedom in order to assist enslaved people in escaping from bondage and staying safe while traveling the Underground Railroad.

• As the network expanded, the railroad metaphor became more prevalent.
• In recent years, academic research has revealed that the vast majority of persons who engaged in the Underground Railroad did it on their own, rather than as part of a larger organization.
• According to historical tales of the railroad, conductors frequently pretended to be enslaved persons in order to smuggle runaways out of plantation prisons and train stations.
• Often, the conductors and passengers traveled 16–19 kilometers (10–20 miles) between each safehouse stop, which was a long distance in this day and age.
• Patrols on the lookout for enslaved persons were usually on their tails, chasing them down.
• Historians who study the railroad, on the other hand, find it difficult to distinguish between fact and fiction.
• Eric Foner is one of the historians that belongs to this group.
• Despite this, the Underground Railroad was at the center of the abolitionist struggle during the nineteenth century.
• Levi Coffin’s residence in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he lived as an American Quaker and abolitionist.
• Cincinnati Museum Center provided the photography.
• Person who is owned by another person or group of people is referred to as an enslaved person.

Slavery is a noun that refers to the act of owning another human being or being owned by another human being (also known as servitude). Abolitionists utilized this nounsystem between 1800 and 1865 to aid enslaved African Americans in their attempts to flee to free states.

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According to National Geographic Society’s Sarah Appleton, Margot Willis is a National Geographic Society photographer.

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OurStory : Activities : Slave Live and the Underground Railroad : More Information

The Underground Railroad’s historical context Harriet Tubman was a conductor on the Underground Railroad. The Library of Congress has provided permission to use this image. During the 1800s, nearly one hundred thousand slaves attempted to gain their freedom by fleeing their masters’ possessions. These courageous Black Americans walked north toward free states and Canada via hidden routes known as the Underground Railroad, or south into Mexico on routes known as the Underground Railroad. Through their assistance to the runaways, free Blacks, Whites, Native Americans, and former slaves served as “conductors.” The vast majority of those who contributed were everyday individuals, such as storekeepers, housewives, carpenters, clergy, farmers, and educators.

• Others, referred to as “agents,” sought to liberate the slaves by providing them with new clothing, collecting money for food and medication, training them to read and write, and giving lectures to persuade others that slavery was immoral.
• A slave grinding grain with a mortar and pestle.
• Smithsonian Institution |
• View a bigger version Passengers were the term used to refer to slaves who traveled on the Underground Railroad.
• A group of volunteers called “agents” tried to free the slaves by providing them with new clothes, collecting money for food and medication, training them to read and write, and giving lectures to persuade people that slavery was immoral.
• Everyone who took part in the Underground Railroad shown incredible bravery.
• The people who assisted slaves were likewise in grave risk, yet they persisted in their efforts because they regarded slavery to be unconstitutional.

With Minty, a novel created by Alan Schroeder, you may learn more about Harriet Tubman when she was a tiny girl who dreamed of independence. return to the Slave Life and the Underground Railroad page

The Secret History of the Underground Railroad

Diseases and Peculiarities of the Negro Race was the title of a series published by De Bow’s Review, a leading Southern periodical, a decade before the Civil War. The series was deemed necessary by the editors because it had “direct and practical bearing” on 3 million people whose worth as property totaled approximately $2 billion. When it comes to African Americans’ supposed laziness (“deficiency of red blood in the pulmonary and arterial systems”), love of dancing (“profuse distribution of nervous matter to the stomach, liver, and genital organs”), and extreme aversion to being whipped (“skin.

1. However, it was Cartwright’s discovery of a previously undiscovered medical illness, which he coined “Drapetomania, or the sickness that causes Negroes to flee,” that grabbed the most attention from readers.
2. Despite the fact that only a few thousand individuals, at most, fled slavery each year—nearly all of them from states bordering the free North—their migration was seen by many Southern whites as a portent of a greater calamity.
3. How long do you think it will take until the entire cloth begins to unravel?
4. Rather, it was intentionally supported and helped by a well-organized network that was both large and diabolical in scope.
5. The word “Underground Railroad” brings up pictures of trapdoors, flickering lamps, and moonlit routes through the woods in the minds of most people today, just as it did in the minds of most Americans in the 1840s and 1850s.
6. At least until recently, scholars paid relatively little attention to the story, which is remarkable considering how prominent it is in the national consciousness.
7. The Underground Railroad was widely believed to be a statewide conspiracy with “conductors,” “agents,” and “depots,” but was it really a fiction of popular imagination conjured up from a succession of isolated, unconnected escapes?
8. Which historians you trust in will determine the solutions.

One historian (white) questioned surviving abolitionists (most of whom were also white) a decade after the Civil War and documented a “great and complicated network” of agents, 3,211 of whom he identified by name, as well as a “great and intricate network” of agents (nearly all of them white).

• “I escaped without the assistance.
• C.
• “I have freed myself in the manner of a man.” In many cases, the Underground Railroad was not concealed at all.
• The journal of a white New Yorker who assisted hundreds of runaway slaves in the 1850s was found by an undergraduate student in Foner’s department at Columbia University while working on her final thesis some years ago, and this discovery served as the inspiration for his current book.
• One of the book’s most surprising revelations is that, according to the book’s subtitle, the Underground Railroad was not always secret at all.
• The New York State Vigilance Committee, established in 1850, the year of the infamous Fugitive Slave Act, officially declared its objective to “welcome, with open arms, the panting fugitive.” Local newspapers published stories about Jermain W.

Bazaars with the slogan “Buy for the sake of the slave” provided donated luxury items and handcrafted knickknacks just before the winter holidays, and bake sales in support of the Underground Railroad, no matter how unlikely it may seem, became popular fund-raisers in Northern towns and cities.

1. Political leaders, especially those who had taken vows to protect the Constitution — including the section ordering the return of runaways to their proper masters — blatantly failed to carry out their obligations.
2. Judge William Jay, a son of the first chief justice of the United States Supreme Court, made the decision to disregard fugitive slave laws and contributed money to aid runaway slaves who managed to flee.
3. One overlooked historical irony is that, up until the eve of Southern secession in 1860, states’ rights were cited as frequently by Northern abolitionists as they were by Southern slaveholders, a fact that is worth noting.
4. It was not recognized for its abolitionist passion, in contrast to places like as Boston and Philadelphia, which had deep-rooted reformer traditions—­as well as communities in upstate New York such as Buffalo and Syracuse.

Even before the city’s final bondsmen were released, in 1827, its economy had become deeply intertwined with that of the South, as evidenced by a gloating editorial in the De Bow newspaper, published shortly before the Civil War, claiming the city was “nearly as reliant on Southern slavery as Charleston.” New York banks lent money to plantation owners to acquire slaves, while New York merchants made their fortunes off the sale of slave-grown cotton and sugar.

1. Besides properly recapturing escapees, slave catchers prowled the streets of Manhattan, and they frequently illegally kidnapped free blacks—particularly children—in order to sell them into Southern bondage.
2. The story begins in 1846, when a man called George Kirk slipped away aboard a ship sailing from Savannah to New York, only to be discovered by the captain and shackled while awaiting return to his owner.
3. The successful fugitive was escorted out of court by a phalanx of local African Americans who were on the lookout for him.
4. In this case, the same court found other legal grounds on which to free Kirk, who rolled out triumphantly in a carriage and made his way to the safety of Boston in short order this time.
5. In addition to being descended from prominent Puritans, Sydney Howard Gay married a wealthy (and radical) Quaker heiress.
6. Co-conspirator Louis Napoleon, who is thought to be the freeborn son of a Jewish New Yorker and an African American slave, was employed as an office porter in Gay’s office.
7. Gay was the one who, between 1855 and 1856, maintained the “Record of Fugitives,” which the undergraduate discovered in the Columbia University archives and which chronicled more than 200 escapes.

Dr.

One first-person narrative starts, “I ate one meal a day for eight years.” “It has been sold three times, and it is expected to be sold a fourth time.

Undoubtedly, a countrywide network existed, with its actions sometimes shrouded in secrecy.

Its routes and timetables were continually changing as well.

As with Gay and Napoleon’s partnership, its operations frequently brought together people from all walks of life, including the rich and the poor, black and white.

Among those who decamped to Savannah were a light-skinned man who put himself up in a first-class hotel, strolled around town in a fine new suit of clothes, and insouciantly purchased a steamship ticket to New York from Savannah.

At the height of the Civil War, the number of such fugitives was still a small proportion of the overall population.

It not only played a role in precipitating the political crisis of the 1850s, but it also galvanized millions of sympathetic white Northerners to join a noble fight against Southern slave­holders, whether they had personally assisted fugitive slaves, shopped at abolitionist bake sales, or simply enjoyed reading about slave escapes in books and newspapers.

1. More than anything else, it trained millions of enslaved Americans to gain their freedom at a moment’s notice if necessary.
2. Within a few months, a large number of Union soldiers and sailors successfully transformed themselves into Underground Railroad operatives in the heart of the South, sheltering fugitives who rushed in large numbers to the Yankees’ encampments to escape capture.
3. Cartwright’s most horrific nightmares.
4. On one of the Union’s railway lines, an abolitionist discovered that the volume of wartime traffic was at an all-time high—­except on one of them.
5. The number of solo travelers is quite limited.” And it’s possible that New Yorkers were startled to open their eyes in early 1864.

The accompanying essay, on the other hand, soon put their worries at ease. It proposed a plan to construct Manhattan’s first subway line, which would travel northward up Broadway from the Battery to Central Park. It was never built.

Kids History: Underground Railroad

A decade before the Civil War, the leading Southern periodical De Bow’s Reviewpublished a series titled Diseases and Peculiarities of the Negro Race—a much-needed study, the editors opined, because it had “direct and practical bearing” on 3 million people whose worth as property totaled approximately $2 billion at the time of the publication. When it comes to African Americans’ supposed laziness (“deficiency of red blood in the pulmonary and arterial systems”), love of dancing (“profuse distribution of nervous matter to the stomach, liver, and genital organs”), and extreme aversion to being whipped (“skin.

• (“Fugitive slave,” he explained, was an ancient Greek term for a fugitive slave).
• “Treating one’s slaves lovingly but sternly,” he said, was the first option.
• Despite the fact that only a few thousand individuals, at most, fled slavery each year—nearly all of them from states bordering the free North—their exodus was seen by many Southern whites as a portent of a greater disaster.
• Was it a matter of time until the entire fabric came undone?
• Rather, it was intentionally supported and helped by a well-organized network that was both huge and ominous in scale.
• The term underground railroad brings to mind pictures of trapdoors, flickering torches, and dark passageways winding through the woods, much as it did for most of the population in the 1840s and 1850s.
• At least until recently, researchers paid relatively little attention to the story, which is remarkable considering how prominent it is in the public consciousness.
• The Underground Railroad was widely believed to be a statewide conspiracy with “conductors,” “agents,” and “depots,” but was it really a fiction of popular imagination concocted from a succession of isolated and unconnected escapes?
• Depending on whose historians you trust, the answers will be different.

One historian (white) questioned surviving abolitionists (most of whom were also white) a decade after the Civil War and documented a “big and complicated network” of agents, 3,211 of whom he recognized by name, who he characterized as “a large and intricate network” (nearly all of them white).

1. Activist clergyman James W.
2. Pennington claimed in 1855 that he had escaped “without the help.
3. As a result of his work on Abraham Lincoln and slavery, Eric Foner, one of the nation’s most recognized practitioners of history (his earlier book on the subject was awarded a Pulitzer Prize), has joined an expanding number of researchers who are illuminating the night sky.
4. (Since the student, as he makes clear in his acknowledgments, chose to become a lawyer, no scholarly careers were jeopardized in the course of the publication of this book.) Readers will be surprised by the narrative told in Gateway to Freedom: The Secret History of the Underground Railroad.
5. Assisting runaways was nothing new for abolitionist organisations, who made a point of publicizing it in pamphlets, publications, and yearly reports.
6. Local newspapers published stories about Jermain W.

Bazaars with the slogan “Buy for the sake of the slave” offered donated luxury goods and handcrafted knickknacks just before the winter holidays, and bake sales in support of the Underground Railroad became common fund-raisers in Northern towns and cities, despite the fact that this may seem unlikely.

• Many women were enthralled by these incidents, which transformed everyday, “feminine” tasks like baking, grocery shopping, and sewing into exhilarating acts of moral commitment and political rebellion for thousands of them.
• While governor of New York, William Seward publicly sponsored Underground Railroad operations, and while serving as a senator in the United States Senate, he (not so openly) provided refuge to runaways in his basement.
• When Northern states implemented “personal liberty” acts in the 1850s, they were able to exclude state and municipal authorities from federal fugitive-slave statutes, this act of defiance acquired legal recognition.
• Yet another surprise in Foner’s gripping story is that it takes place in New York City.
• Even as recently as the 1790s, enslaved laborers tended Brooklyn’s outlying fields, constituting a quarter of the city’s total population (40 percent).
• Besides properly recapturing escapees, slave catchers prowled the streets of Manhattan, and they frequently illegally kidnapped free blacks—particularly children—in order to sell them into Southern bond slavery.
• George Kirk snuck away on board a ship bound for New York in 1846, only to be apprehended by the captain and kept in chains while waiting to be returned to his master’s possession.
• Following his triumphant exit from court, the winning fugitive was met with applause from the courtroom’s African-American contingent.
• A second legal basis was discovered by the same court to free Kirk, who this time rolled out triumphantly in a carriage and arrived in the safety of Boston in no time.
• In addition to being descended from prominent Puritans, Sydney Howard Gay married a wealthy (and radical) Quaker heiress, who became the editor of the National Anti-Slavery Standard.
• Whilst Gay was busy publishing abolitionist manifestos and raising funds, Napoleon was patrolling the New York harbor in search of black stowaways and traveling the length and breadth of the Mason-Dixon Line in pursuit of those who had managed to escape slavery.

It’s “the most complete description in existence of how the underground railroad worked in New York City,” according to Foner, and it contains “a treasure trove of compelling anecdotes and a storehouse of insights about both slavery and the underground railroad.” One of the most moving passages was when Gay documented the slaves’ accounts of their reasons for fleeing in a matter-of-fact tone.

• Cartwright’s theory, it appears that none of them addressed Drapetomania.
• I was beaten with a hatchet and bled for three days after being struck with 400 lashes by an overseer.” As a result of his research, Foner concludes that the phrase “Underground Railroad” has been used to describe something that is restrictive, if not deceptive.
• Though it had tunnels, it also had straightaways and bright straightaways where its traces might be found.
• It is true that the Underground Railroad had conductors and stationmasters in a sense, but the great majority of its people contributed in ways that were far too diverse to be compared in such a straightforward manner.
• Its passengers and their experiences were almost as different.
• During this time, a Virginia mother and her little daughter had spent five months crouched in a small hiding hole beneath a house near Norfolk before being transported out of the country.
• Although the Underground Railroad operated on a small scale, its effect considerably beyond the size of its activities.

It fostered the suspicions of Southern leaders while driving Northern leaders to choose sides with either the slaves or the slavecatchers.

Escapees were reported to be flooding northward at an unusual rate just a few days after the Confederate attack on Fort Sumter in April 1861.

There had been a Drapetomania on a magnitude that was worse beyond Dr.

The Reverend Samuel Cartwright passed away in 1863, just a few months after the Emancipation Proclamation, which officially established Drapetomania as a national policy.

As he put it, the Underground Railroad “has hardly no business at all these days.

New Yorkers may have been astonished to open their eyes in the early 1864 season as well.

The accompanying piece, on the other hand, soon put their concerns to rest. According to the plan, Manhattan’s first subway line would travel northward up Broadway from the Battery to Central Park, beginning at 42nd Street.

• A decade before the Civil War, the leading Southern periodical De Bow’s Reviewpublished a series titled Diseases and Peculiarities of the Negro Race—a much-needed study, the editors opined, given its “direct and practical bearing” on 3 million people whose worth as property totaled approximately $2 billion. The author of the essays, the eminent New Orleans physician Samuel Adolphus Cartwright, described in precise anatomical terms the reasons for African Americans’ supposed laziness (“deficiency of red blood in the pulmonary and arterial systems”), love of dancing (“profuse distribution of nervous matter to the stomach, liver, and genital organs”), and extreme aversion to being whipped (“skin. as sensitive, when they are in perfect health, as that of children”). But it was Cartwright’s discovery of a previously undiscovered medical illness, which he coined “Drapetomania, or the sickness that causes Negroes to flee,” that grabbed the most attention from readers. In fact, he got the name from an ancient Greek phrase that meant “fugitive slave.” He went on to say that there were two viable remedies for this affliction: treating one’s slaves lovingly but firmly, or, failing that, “whipping the devil out of them.” When Cartwright’s writings were published in the summer of 1851, it seemed as though Drapetomania was on the point of becoming a lethal contagious disease. Despite the fact that only a few thousand individuals, at most, fled slavery each year—nearly all of them from states bordering the free North—their migration was seen by many Southern whites as a portent of a wider calamity. The Mason-Dixon Line has become the frayed hem of slavery. How long do you think it will take until the entire cloth begins to fall apart? The worst part was that the departure could no longer be attributed to isolated occurrences of Drapetomania. Rather, it was intentionally promoted and aided by a well-organized network that was both large and diabolical in scope. And, increasingly, this movement did not function in the shadows, but rather in plain daylight. The name “Underground Railroad” brings up thoughts of trapdoors, flickering torches, and dark passageways through the woods for most people today, just as it did for most Americans in the 1840s and 1850s. The riddle has only grown more complex in the century and a half since its peak. At least until recently, historians paid relatively little attention to this story, which is remarkable considering how prominent it is in the national consciousness. Furthermore, the extant literature sometimes appears to conceal the true nature of the narrative even further. Was the Underground Railroad genuinely a countrywide conspiracy with “conductors,” “agents,” and “depots,” or was it merely a fabrication of popular imagination conjured up from a succession of ad hoc, unconnected fugitives’ escapes? The major protagonists of the story were either heroic Southern blacks or sympathetic Northern whites. Depending on whose historians you trust, the answers will differ. Even the testimony of the participants are sometimes in conflict with one another. One historian (white) questioned surviving abolitionists (most of whom were white) a generation after the Civil War and documented a “vast and complicated network” of agents, 3,211 of whom he recognized by name (nearly all of them white). African Americans, on the other hand, had a different perspective. In 1855, the radical preacher James W. C. Pennington wrote, “I escaped without the assistance. of any human being.” “I have freed myself in the same way as a guy would.” The Underground Railroad was not always well-hidden. As a result of his work on Abraham Lincoln and slavery, Eric Foner, one of the nation’s most recognized practitioners of history (his last book on the subject was awarded a Pulitzer Prize), has joined an expanding number of researchers who are illuminating the darkness. A few years ago, an undergraduate student in Foner’s department at Columbia University, while working on her senior thesis, came across a previously undiscovered journal of a white New Yorker who assisted hundreds of escaping slaves in the 1850s—a discovery that served as the inspiration for his latest book. (Since the student, as he makes clear in his acknowledgments, chose to become a lawyer, no scholarly careers were jeopardized by the publication of this volume.) Readers will be surprised by the narrative told in Gateway to Freedom: The Hidden History of the Underground Railroad. One of the book’s most surprising revelations is that, according to the book’s subtitle, the Underground Railroad was frequently not concealed at all. Abolitionist organizations made no secret of their willingness to aid runaways
• In fact, they publicized their efforts in pamphlets, publications, and yearly reports. The New York State Vigilance Committee officially declared its objective to “welcome, with open arms, the panting fugitive” in 1850, the year of the infamous Fugitive Slave Act. Local newspapers published stories about Jermain W. Loguen, a former slave who had moved to Syracuse and declared himself the city’s “agent and keeper of the Underground Railroad Depot.” He held “donation parties” to raise money, and newspapers published statistics on the number of fugitives he had helped. Bazaars with the slogan “Buy for the sake of the slave” provided donated luxury items and handcrafted knickknacks just before the winter holidays, and bake sales in support of the Underground Railroad were frequent fund-raisers in Northern towns and cities, despite the fact that they seemed unlikely. “ Indeed, notes Foner, “abolitionists were instrumental in establishing the tradition of a Christmas’shopping season,’ during which individuals exchanged gifts purchased from commercial establishments.” Many women were enthralled by these incidents, which transformed everyday, “feminine” tasks like baking, grocery shopping, and sewing into exhilarating acts of moral commitment and political rebellion for them. Even legislators who had sworn vows to preserve the Constitution — including its provision demanding the return of runaways to their lawful lords – disobeyed their oaths and failed to fulfill their responsibilities. While governor of New York, William Seward publicly sponsored Underground Railroad operations, and while sitting in the United States Senate, he (not so openly) housed runaways in his basement. Escaped slave laws were disregarded by Judge William Jay, a son of the first Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court, who provided money to aid fugitive slaves. When Northern states implemented “personal liberty” acts in the 1850s, they were able to exclude state and municipal authorities from federal fugitive-slave statutes, this act of disobedience received legal legitimacy. One overlooked historical irony is that, up until the eve of Southern secession in 1860, states’ rights were cited as frequently by Northern abolitionists as they were by Southern slaveholders, a fact that has been overlooked. Foner’s intriguing tale is set in New York City, which provides yet another unexpected twist. When compared to places like Boston and Philadelphia, which had deep-rooted reformer traditions—­as well as upstate cities like Buffalo and Syracuse—­the city was not recognized for its anti-slavery fervor. Slaves had farmed Brooklyn’s outlying fields for generations
• As late as the 1790s, they accounted for 40 percent of the city’s population. Even before the city’s final bondsmen were released, in 1827, its economy had become deeply intertwined with that of the South, as evidenced by a gloating editorial in the De Bow’s newspaper soon before the Civil War that the city was “nearly as reliant on Southern slavery as Charleston.” Planters’ slave purchases were financed by New York banks, while New York merchants made their fortunes on slave-grown cotton and sugar. Slave catchers prowled the streets of Manhattan, and in addition to officially apprehending escapees, they frequently illegally kidnapped free blacks—particularly children—to sell them into Southern bondage. Runaways, on the other hand, fought for their freedom above ground, in courtrooms, and on the streets of New York. George Kirk snuck away on board a ship bound for New York in 1846, only to be apprehended by the captain and kept in shackles while waiting to be returned to his owner. The calls for aid were heard by black stevedores on the pier, who informed abolitionist groups, who were able to persuade a sympathetic judge to determine that Kirk could not be kept against his will. The winning fugitive was escorted out of court by a watchful phalanx of African Americans from the surrounding community. Soon after, however, the mayor ordered Kirk’s arrest, and after a failed attempt by abolitionists to sneak him away (inside a box labeled “American Bible Society”), Kirk was taken back into court. In this case, the same court found new legal grounds on which to free Kirk, who rolled out triumphantly in a carriage and made his way to the safety of Boston in no time at all. One of Kirk’s defenders was a pair of campaigners who were completely unexpected. Founder and editor of the National Anti-Slavery Standard, Sydney Howard Gay, was descended from Puritan luminaries and had married a wealthy (and radical) Quaker heiress. Louis Napoleon, his co-conspirator, is believed to have been the freeborn son of a Jewish New Yorker and an African American slave
• He worked as a porter in Gay’s office. Napoleon, on the other hand, prowled the New York docks in search of black stowaways and traveled the length and breadth of the Mason-Dixon Line, escorting fugitives to freedom. Gay was the one who, between 1855 and 1856, maintained the “Record of Fugitives,” which the undergraduate discovered in the Columbia University archives and which documented more than 200 escapes. This paper, according to Foner, “is the most complete description in existence of how the underground railroad worked in New York City. a treasure trove of gripping anecdotes and a reservoir of insights about both slavery and the underground railroad.” Perhaps most poignantly, Gay chronicled the slaves’ statements of their reasons for escaping in a matter-of-fact manner. Despite Dr. Cartwright’s idea, it appears that no one addressed Drapetomania. One first-person narrative opens with the words “one meal a day for eight years.” “It’s been sold three times and is expected to be sold a fourth time. “I was beaten with a hatchet and bled for three days after being struck with four hundred lashes by an overseer.” Finalement, Foner argues that the term “Underground Railroad” has been used to describe something that is both limited and deceptive. There was undoubtedly a countrywide network in existence, with its operations sometimes shrouded in secrecy. Although its rails traveled through twisty tunnels, they also passed across bright straightaways. Its routes and schedules were continuously changing. The Underground Railroad did, in a sense, have conductors and stationmasters, but the great majority of its people contributed in ways that were far too diverse to be compared in such a straightforward manner. Akin to the cooperation between Gay and Napoleon, its efforts frequently brought together rich and poor, black and white, for a shared purpose. Its passengers and their tales were almost as different as the airline itself. Among others who decamped to Savannah were a light-skinned guy who set himself up in a first-class hotel, strutted around town in a magnificent new suit of clothes, and insolently purchased a steamship ticket to New York. A mother and her little daughter were brought to freedom after spending five months hiding in a cramped hiding spot behind a house near Norfolk, Virginia. At the height of the Civil War, the number of such fugitives was still a small proportion of the total population. Despite this, the Underground Railroad’s effect considerably outstripped the scope of its operations. In addition to contributing to the political crisis of the 1850s, it galvanized millions of sympathetic white Northerners to join a noble fight against Southern slaveholders, whether they had personally aided fugitives, shopped at abolitionist bake sales, or were simply entertained by the colorful accounts of slave escapes in books and newspapers. It reinforced the paranoia of Southern authorities while pushing Northern leaders to choose sides between slaves and slave catchers. Above all, it trained millions of enslaved Americans to gain their freedom at a moment’s notice. Escapees were reported to be flowing northward at an unusual rate just days after the Confederate attack on Fort Sumter in April 1861. Within a few months, a large number of Union soldiers and sailors successfully transformed themselves into Underground Railroad operatives in the heart of the South, sheltering fugitives who rushed in large numbers to the Yankees’ encampments. This was Drapetomania on a magnitude far worse than anything Dr. Cartwright could have imagined. Samuel Cartwright died in 1863, just a few months after the Emancipation Proclamation, which officially established Drapetomania as a government policy. In the same year, an abolitionist reported that all of the Union’s railway lines were seeing record wartime traffic, with the exception of one. “The Underground Railroad currently conducts almost no business at all,” he stated. A solitary wanderer is hard to come by.” In addition, New Yorkers may have been surprised to open their eyes in early 1864. There’s a headline in the Evening Post that announces preparations for “A New Underground Railroad” in the city. However, the accompanying article instantly put their concerns at ease. In it, the author presented a plan to construct Manhattan’s first subway line, which would travel northward along Broadway from the Battery to Central Park.

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