Who Were The White People That Helped In The Underground Railroad? (Best solution)

White and black activists such as Levi Coffin, Thomas Garrett, Calvin Fairbank, Charles Torrey, Harriet Tubman and Still were genuine heroes of the Underground Railroad.

Who was involved in the Underground Railroad?

• Contemporary scholarship has shown that most of those who participated in the Underground Railroad largely worked alone, rather than as part of an organized group. There were people from many occupations and income levels, including former enslaved persons.

Who helped the most in the Underground Railroad?

Harriet Tubman is perhaps the best-known figure related to the underground railroad. She made by some accounts 19 or more rescue trips to the south and helped more than 300 people escape slavery.

Who were the heroes of the Underground Railroad?

These eight abolitionists helped enslaved people escape to freedom.

• Isaac Hopper. Abolitionist Isaac Hopper.
• John Brown. Abolitionist John Brown, c.
• Harriet Tubman.
• Thomas Garrett.
• William Still.
• Levi Coffin.
• Elijah Anderson.
• Thaddeus Stevens.

Who were the abolitionists 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.

Who helped Harriet Tubman with the Underground Railroad?

Fugitive Slave Act She often drugged babies and young children to prevent slave catchers from hearing their cries. Over the next ten years, Harriet befriended other abolitionists such as Frederick Douglass, Thomas Garrett and Martha Coffin Wright, and established her own Underground Railroad network.

What did Frederick Douglass do?

Frederick Douglass was an escaped slave who became a prominent activist, author and public speaker. He became a leader in the abolitionist movement, which sought to end the practice of slavery, before and during the Civil War.

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.

How many runaway slaves were there?

Approximately 100,000 American slaves escaped to freedom.

Who ended slavery?

In 1862, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation declaring “all persons held as slaves… shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free,” effective January 1, 1863. It was not until the ratification of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, in 1865, that slavery was formally abolished ( here ).

Who is Harriet Tom men?

Harriet Tubman (born Araminta Ross, c. March 1822 – March 10, 1913) was an American abolitionist and political activist. In her later years, Tubman was an activist in the movement for women’s suffrage.

What was William Still’s role in the Underground Railroad?

He became an active agent on the Underground Railroad, assisting fugitive Africans who came to Philadelphia. With the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, Still was appointed chairman of the society’s revived Vigilance Committee that aided and supported fugitive Africans.

Was William Lloyd Garrison involved in the Underground Railroad?

Aboard the Underground Railroad– Harriet Beecher Stowe House–Maine. This National Historic Landmark was the home of William Lloyd Garrison (1805-1879), one of the most articulate and influential advocates of the abolitionist movement in the United States, from 1864 until his death.

8 Key Contributors to the Underground Railroad

Isaac Hopper, an abolitionist, is shown in this image from the Kean Collection/Getty Images. As early as 1786, George Washington expressed dissatisfaction with a “organization of Quakers, founded for such reasons,” which had sought to free a neighbor’s slave. Quakers were instrumental in the establishment of the Underground Railroad. Slavery was opposed in especially in Philadelphia, where Isaac Hopper, a Quaker who converted to Christianity, created what has been described as “the first working cell of the abolitionist underground.” Hopper not only protected escaped slave hunters in his own house, but he also constructed a network of safe havens and recruited a web of spies in order to get insight into their plans.

Hopper, a friend of Joseph Bonaparte, the exiled brother of the former French emperor, went to New York City in 1829 and established himself as a successful businessman.

READ MORE: The Underground Railroad and Its Operation

2. John Brown

John Brown, an abolitionist, about 1846 GraphicaArtis/Getty Images courtesy of Similar to his father, John Brown actively participated in the Underground Railroad by hosting runaways at his home and warehouse and organizing an anti-slave catcher militia following the adoption of the Fugitive Slave Act in 1850, which he inherited from his father. The next year, he joined several of his sons in the so-called “Bleeding Kansas” war, leading one attack that resulted in the deaths of five pro-slavery settlers in 1856.

Brown’s radicalization continued to grow, and his ultimate act occurred in October 1859, when he and 21 supporters seized the government arsenal in Harpers Ferry, Virginia (now West Virginia), in an effort to incite a large-scale slave uprising.

3. Harriet Tubman

John Brown, an abolitionist, about 1846. Image via Getty Images courtesy of GraphicaArtis Following the adoption of the Fugitive Slave Act in 1850, John Brown, like his father before him, actively participated in the Underground Railroad, sheltering runaways at his home and warehouse and forming an anti-slave catcher militia. The next year, he and many of his sons took part in the so-called “Bleeding Kansas” war, leading one raid that ended in the death of five pro-slavery settlers. The next month, in December 1858, Brown raided three Missouri plantations, freeing 11 enslaved individuals, after which he and his fugitive companions embarked on a roughly 1,500-mile trip across the continent to Canada.

The next December, Brown was apprehended and convicted, and he was executed.

4. Thomas Garrett

John Brown, an abolitionist who lived around the year 1846. Getty Images/GraphicaArtis Following the passing of the Fugitive Slave Act in 1850, John Brown, like his father before him, actively participated in the Underground Railroad, hiding runaways at his home and warehouse and creating an anti-slave catcher militia. He later took part in the so-called “Bleeding Kansas” battle, commanding a raid in 1856 that resulted in the deaths of five pro-slavery settlers. Another attack in December 1858 resulted in the liberation of 11 enslaved individuals from three Missouri plantations, following which Brown and his fugitive companions embarked on a roughly 1,500-mile trip to Canada to avoid capture.

The next December, Brown was apprehended and convicted, and he was then executed.

5. William Still

John Brown, an abolitionist who lived around the year 1846 GraphicaArtis/Getty Images Following the passing of the Fugitive Slave Act in 1850, John Brown, like his father before him, actively participated in the Underground Railroad, hiding runaways at his home and warehouse and forming an anti-slave catcher militia. He later became involved in the so-called “Bleeding Kansas” war, commanding a raid in 1856 that ended in the deaths of five pro-slavery settlers. Another attack in December 1858 resulted in the liberation of 11 enslaved persons from three Missouri plantations, following which Brown led his closely pursued captives on a roughly 1,500-mile trip to Canada.

The next December, Brown was apprehended and convicted, and he was then hung to death.

6. Levi Coffin

John Brown, an abolitionist, about 1846 GraphicaArtis/Getty Images courtesy of Similar to his father, John Brown actively participated in the Underground Railroad by hosting runaways at his home and warehouse and organizing an anti-slave catcher militia following the adoption of the Fugitive Slave Act in 1850, which he inherited from his father. The next year, he joined several of his sons in the so-called “Bleeding Kansas” war, leading one attack that resulted in the deaths of five pro-slavery settlers in 1856.

Brown’s radicalization continued to grow, and his ultimate act occurred in October 1859, when he and 21 supporters seized the government arsenal in Harpers Ferry, Virginia (now West Virginia), in an effort to incite a large-scale slave uprising.

The next December, Brown was apprehended and convicted, and he was executed by hanging.

7. Elijah Anderson

The Ohio River, which formed the border between slave and free states, was referred to as the River Jordan in abolitionist circles because it represented the border between slave and free states. Madison, Indiana, was an especially appealing crossing point for enslaved persons on the run, because to an Underground Railroad cell established there by blacksmith Elijah Anderson and several other members of the town’s Black middle class in the 1850s. With his fair skin, Anderson might have passed for a white slave owner on his repeated travels into Kentucky, where would purportedly pick up 20 to 30 enslaved persons at a time and whisk them away to freedom, sometimes accompanying them as far as the Coffins’ mansion in Newport.

An anti-slavery mob devastated Madison in 1846, almost drowning an agent of the Underground Railroad, prompting Anderson to flee upriver to Lawrenceburg, Indiana, where he eventually settled.

8. Thaddeus Stevens

Mr. Thaddeus Stevens is an American lawyer and senator. Bettmann Archive courtesy of Getty Images; Matthew Brady/Bettmann Archive Thaddeus Stevens, a representative from Pennsylvania, was outspoken in his opposition to slavery. The 14th and 15th amendments, which guaranteed African-American citizens equal protection under the law and the right to vote, respectively, were among his many accomplishments, and he also advocated for a radical reconstruction of the South, which included the redistribution of land from white plantation owners to former enslaved people.

Despite this, it wasn’t until 2002 that his Underground Railroad activities were brought to light, when archeologists uncovered a hidden hiding hole in the courtyard of his Lancaster house.

Seward, also served as Underground Railroad “stationmasters” during the era.

White Abolitionists · The Underground Railroad · The Underground Railroad in the Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana Borderland

John Rankin is a Scottish author and poet.

John Rankin

John Rankin was a Presbyterian clergyman who went from Tennessee to Kentucky before settling in Ripely, Ohio. He rose to prominence as a leader in the Underground Railroad network, which aided escaped slaves in their escape. Rankin was born on the 4th of February, 1793, in the state of Tennessee. Rankin was a conductor on the Underground Railroad in Ripley, and he welcomed African Americans seeking freedom into his home while he was there. His house was perched on a three hundred-foot-high hill with a panoramic view of the Ohio River.

He kept the fugitives hidden until it was safe for them to continue farther north on the ice highway.

According to Rankin, racial prejudice was a crime and a breach of the “law of love,” and he felt that disobedience to slavery was obedience to the will of God. Levi Coffin is a fictional character created by author Levi Coffin.

Levi Coffin

Levi Coffin is credited with establishing the white abolitionist movement in the Western United States. In 1826, Coffin relocated to Madison, Indiana, where he discovered that fugitives travelling through the area preferred safety among African Americans, rather than among whites. There were just a few regions where whites and free blacks worked together because they were wary of one other’s intentions. Coffin relocated to Cincinnati after successfully arranging a streamlined network of help for fugitives in Indiana.

The African American community served as the fugitive slaves’ initial point of contact once they escaped.

During this time, Coffin established the multi-racial Cincinnati Vigilance Committee, which raised finances to undertake opposition.

The Cincinnati Vigilance Committee was comprised of a number of notable white and black citizens in Ohio.

Calvin Fairbank

Calvin Fairbank, with the aid of Deila Webster, supported a fugitive in his attempt to flee. The following description, taken from Leiv Coffin’s book, details the hardship in Fairbanks. “As a result of taking my time to study the best path and becoming familiar with reputable sources of assistance, I arrived in Lexington, Kentucky, on the first day of September, almost one month after I had set out for Kentucky on August 24, 1844. Miss Delia Webster was a teacher in Lexington at the time. I looked into the matter of Berry’s wife, the slave lady, whom I had gone to the assistance of, but it was unlikely that I would be successful in removing her from the country.

• A series of interviews were conducted and preparations were made, and on the night of September 28th, Miss Webster and I, who were waiting in a rented hack outside the house of Cassius M.
• We were held up for about an hour in Millersburg, twenty-four miles away, because we had to substitute another horse for one that had failed us; and it was while we were here that we were identified by two colored men from Lexington, who had followed us.
• We crossed the Ohio River at nine o’clock the next morning in Maysville, Kentucky, and were shortly in Ripley, Ohio, where we were secure.
• Fairbank said that he had gotten more than 35 thousand and one hundred and five stripes from the lashing.
• 233.

Levi Coffin’s recollections of his time as the rumored President of the Underground Railroad are included in Documenting The American South (accessed November 26, 2012).

Key People

Between 1830 and 1850, Stephen Myers rose to prominence as the most significant leader of a local underground railroad organization that spanned the United States and the world. Other notable persons came and left during this time period, but Myers remained in Albany the entire time. Stephen Myers is without a doubt responsible for assisting thousands of people to travel via Albany on the subterranean railroad to locations west, north, and east. First, in the early 1840s, he relied on his personal resources and those of the Northern Star Association, which he chaired and was responsible for publishing the publication of his journal.

1. Some people considered the Albany branch of the underground railroad to be the best-run section of the railroad in the entire state when it was under his direction.
2. Throughout his life, he worked as a grocer and a steamboat steward, but it was in 1842 that he began his journalistic career.
3. He was a strong advocate for anti-slavery activism as well as for the rights of African Americans in the United States.
4. He writes on temperance, the rights of African Americans, the necessity of abolishing slavery, and a variety of other topics in its pages.
5. It is from Garland Penn’s book The Afro-American Press and Its Editors that the photograph of Stephen Meyers that is used to accompany this text was taken.
6. Several pieces of information on him may also be found in the notes offered to one of the essays made by him that was published in The Black Abolitionist Papers, volume 3, edited by C.
7. The Albany Evening Times published an article on Monday, February 14, 1870, in the evening.

This man, who was the oldest and most renowned of our colored inhabitants, passed away in the early hours of yesterday morning, at the age of eighty-one.

Myers has been eventful, since he has lived through the majority of the most important epochs in the history of our country.

He also worked as a steward on certain North River steamboats for a period of time during the early part of the twentieth century, which was a very significant role in those days.

He was a well-known figure among his race, having worked as an agent for the “Underground Railroad” before the war.

Years ago, he was THE representation of them in their dealings with the leaders of this state.

Mr.

Mr.

Mr. Myers was a devout Christian who died as a witness to the religion that he had lived. Wednesday afternoon’s burial will take place at the A M. E. Church on Hamilton Street.

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.

• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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 collaboration, its operations frequently brought together people from all walks of life, including the affluent and the poor, black and white.

Among others who decamped to Savannah were a light-skinned guy who set himself up in a first-class hotel, went around town in a magnificent 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.

• More than anything else, it trained millions of enslaved Americans to gain their freedom at a moment’s notice if necessary.
• 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.
• Cartwright’s most horrific nightmares.
• 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.
• The number of solo travelers is quite limited.” And it’s possible that New Yorkers were surprised 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.

Pathways to Freedom

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.

1. (“Fleeing slave,” he said, was an old Greek phrase for a fugitive slave).
2. “Treating one’s slaves lovingly but sternly,” he said, was the first option.
3. 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.
4. Was it a matter of time until the entire fabric came undone?
5. Rather, it was intentionally supported and helped by a well-organized network that was both huge and ominous in scale.
6. 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.
7. At least until recently, researchers paid relatively little attention to the story, which is remarkable considering how prominent it is in the public consciousness.
8. 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?
9. 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.

1. Cartwright’s theory, it appears that none of them addressed Drapetomania.
2. 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.
3. Though it had tunnels, it also had straightaways and bright straightaways where its traces might be found.
4. 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.
5. Its passengers and their experiences were almost as different.
6. 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.
7. 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.

Underground Railroad – Ohio History Central

According to Ohio History Central This snapshot depicts the “Freedom Stairway,” which consists of one hundred stairs going from the Ohio River to the John Rankin House in Ripley, which served as a station on the Underground Railroad during the Civil War. Presbyterian clergyman and educator John Rankin (1793-1886) spent most of his time working for the abolitionist anti-slavery struggle. The home features various secret rooms, some of which were used to hide freedom fighters. An illuminated sign was erected in front of the home to signal that it was safe for anyone seeking freedom to approach it.

• An underground railroad system of safe homes and hiding places that assisted freedom seekers on their journeys to freedom in Canada, Mexico, and other countries outside of the United States was known as the Underground Railroad (UR).
• Although it is unknown when the Underground Railroad had its start, members of the Society of Friends, often known as the Quakers, were actively supporting freedom seekers as early as the 1780s, according to historical records.
• As early as the late 1700s, slavery was outlawed in the vast majority of Northern states.
• African Americans were forced to flee the United States in order to genuinely achieve their freedom.
• Despite the fact that slavery was outlawed in Ohio, some individuals were still opposed to the abolition of the institution.
• Many of these individuals were adamantly opposed to the Underground Railroad.
• Other people attempted to restore freedom seekers to their rightful owners in the aim of receiving prizes for their efforts.

Over three thousand slaves were rescued from their captors and granted freedom in Canada thanks to the efforts of Levi Coffin, a Cincinnati man who lived in the late 1840s and early 1850s.

His house was perched on a three hundred-foot-high hill with a panoramic view of the Ohio River.

He gave the freedom seekers with sanctuary and kept them hidden until it was safe for them to proceed farther north in their quest for independence.

These individuals, as well as a large number of others, put their lives in danger to aid African Americans in their journey to freedom.

They typically chose to live in communities where there were other African Americans.

A total of eight communities along the Lake Erie shoreline served as embarkation locations for the freedom seekers’ journey to Canada, including Ashtabula, Painesville, Cleveland, Sandusky, Toledo, Huron, Lorain, Conneaut, and Conneaut.

It is still unknown exactly how the Underground Railroad came to be known by that moniker.

In 1831, a freedom seeker called Tice Davids fled from his slave owners in Kentucky, where he had been held since birth.

Davids had arrived at the coast only a few minutes before him. Following the arrival of his boat, the holder was unable to locate Davids and concluded that he “must have gone off on a subterranean path.”

See Also

1. “The Hippocrene Guide to the Underground Railroad,” by Charles L. Blockson, et al. Hippocrene Books, New York, NY, 1994
2. Levi Coffin, Hippocrene Books, New York, NY, 1994. Levi Coffin’s recollections of his time as the rumored President of the Underground Railroad. Arno Press, New York, NY, 1968
3. Dee, Christine, ed., Ohio’s War: The Civil War in Documents, New York, NY, 1968. Ohio: A Four-Volume Reference Library on the History of a Great State (Athens: Ohio University Press, 2007)
4. Fess, Simeon D., ed. Ohio: A Four-Volume Reference Library on the History of a Great State (Athens: Ohio University Press, 2007). Gara, Larry, and Lewis Publishing Company, 1937
5. Chicago, IL: Lewis Publishing Company. The Liberty Line: The Legend of the Underground Railroad is a documentary film about the Underground Railroad. Lexington, KY: University of Kentucky Press, 1961
6. Ann Hagedorn, ed., Lexington: University of Kentucky Press, 1961. Beyond the River: The Untold Story of the Heroes of the Underground Railroad is a book about the heroes of the Underground Railroad. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster, 2002
7. Roseboom, Eugene H. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster, 2002
8. The period from 1850 to 1873 is known as the Civil War Era. The Underground Railroad: From Slavery to Freedom (Columbus, OH: Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society, 1944)
9. Siebert, Wibur H. “The Underground Railroad: From Slavery to Freedom.” RussellRussell, New York, 1898
10. Siebert, Wilbur Henry, New York, 1898. Ohio was a stop on the Underground Railroad. Lesick, Lawrence Thomas
11. Arthur W. McGraw, 1993
12. McGraw, Arthur W. The Lane Rebels: Evangelicalism and Antislavery in Antebellum America is a book about the Lane family who were antislavery activists in the antebellum era. Roland M. Baumann’s book, The Scarecrow Press, was published in 1980 in Metuchen, NJ. The Rescue of the Oberlin-Wellington Train in 1858: A Reappraisal Oberlin, OH: Oberlin College Press, 2003
13. Levi Coffin and William Still, editors. Fleeing for Freedom: Stories of the Underground Railroad is a collection of short stories about people fleeing for freedom. Ivan R. Dee Publishers, Chicago, Illinois, 2004.

Underground Railroad

“The Hippocrene Guide to the Underground Railroad,” by Charles L. Blockson, is available online at Amazon.com. Hippocrene Books, New York, NY, 1994; Levi Coffin, Hippocrene Books, 1994. Levi Coffin’s recollections of his time as the alleged President of the Underground Railroad are included. OHIO’S WAR: THE CIVIL WAR IN DOCUMENTS (New York, NY: Arno Press, 1968); Christine Dee (ed.) Ohio: A Four-Volume Reference Library on the History of a Great State, edited by Simeon D. Fess, Athens: Ohio University Press, 2007.

• The Underground Railroad’s Liberty Line is a legendary tale.
• Lexington, KY: University of Kentucky Press “Beyond the River” is a nonfiction book that tells the story of the Underground Railroad heroes who went undetected for decades.
• Between 1850 until 1873, the United States was in the Civil War.
• The Underground Railroad: From Slavery to Freedom.
• 1898; Wilbur Henry Siebert, New York: RussellRussell; RussellRussell, 1898; In Ohio, there was an Underground Railroad.
• McGraw, 1993.
• It was published by Scarecrow Press in Metuchen, New Jersey, and it was written by Roland M.
• a reappraisal of the 1858 Oberlin-Wellington rescue Cooper, Levi, and William Still (eds.) published Oberlin College Press in 2003 in Oberlin, Ohio.
• Ivan R.

Facts, information and articles about the Underground Railroad

“The Hippocrene Guide to the Underground Railroad,” by Charles L. Blockson. Levi Coffin’s Hippocrene Books was published in New York, New York, in 1994. Levi Coffin’s recollections of his time as the reputed President of the Underground Railroad. Arno Press, 1968; Dee, Christine, ed., Ohio’s War: The Civil War in Documents, New York, NY: Arno Press, 1968. Ohio: A Four-Volume Reference Library on the History of a Great State (Athens: Ohio University Press, 2007); Fess, Simeon D., ed.Ohio: A Four-Volume Reference Library on the History of a Great State (Athens: Ohio University Press, 2007).

1. The Liberty Line: The Legend of the Underground Railroad is a documentary about the Underground Railroad.
2. Lexington: University of Kentucky Press, 1961.
3. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster, 2002; Roseboom, Eugene H.
4. The period between 1850 and 1873 is known as the Civil War Era.
5. Siebert, published by the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society in 1944.
6. The Underground Railroad in the state of Ohio.
7. McGraw, 1993.
8. Scarecrow Press, Metuchen, New Jersey, 1980; Baumann, Roland M.

A Reappraisal of the 1858 Oberlin-Wellington Rescue. Oberlin, OH: Oberlin College Press, 2003; Levi Coffin and William Still, eds. Fleeing for Freedom: Stories of the Underground Railroad is a collection of short stories about the Underground Railroad. Chicago, IL: Ivan R. Dee Publishing, 2004.

Ended

The beginnings of the American Civil War occurred around the year 1862.

Slaves Freed

Estimates range between 6,000 and 10,000.

Prominent Figures

Harriet Tubman is a historical figure. William Still is a well-known author and poet. Levi Coffin is a fictional character created by author Levi Coffin. John Fairfield is a well-known author.

Related Reading:

The Story of How Canada Became the Final Station on the Underground Railroad Harriet Tubman’s Legacy as a Freedom Fighter and a Spion is well documented.

The Beginnings Of the Underground Railroad

Even before the nineteenth century, it appears that a mechanism to assist runaways existed. In 1786, George Washington expressed dissatisfaction with the assistance provided to one of his escaped slaves by “a organization of Quakers, founded for such purposes.” The Religious Society of Friends, or Quakers as they are more officially known, were among the first abolitionist organizations to emerge. Their influence may have played a role in Pennsylvania becoming the first state to abolish slavery, which was home to a large number of Quakers.

In recognition of his contributions, Levi is often referred to as the “president of the Underground Railroad.” In Fountain City, Ohio, on Ohio’s western border, the eight-room Indiana home they bought and used as a “station” before they came to Cincinnati has been preserved and is now a National Historic Landmark.

The Underground Railroad Gets Its Name

Owen Brown, the father of radical abolitionist John Brown, was a member of the Underground Railroad in the state of New York during the Civil War. An unconfirmed narrative suggests that “Mammy Sally” designated the house where Abraham Lincoln’s future wife, Mary Todd Lincoln, grew up and served as a safe house where fugitives could receive food, but the account is doubtful. Routes of the Underground Railroad It was not until the early 1830s that the phrase “Underground Railroad” was first used.

Fugitives going by water or on genuine trains were occasionally provided with clothing so that they wouldn’t give themselves away by wearing their worn-out job attire.

Many of them continued on to Canada, where they could not be lawfully reclaimed by their rightful owners.

The slave or slaves were forced to flee from their masters, which was frequently done at night. It was imperative that the runaways maintain their eyes on the North Star at all times; only by keeping that star in front of them could they be certain that they were on their trip north.

Conductors On The Railroad

A “conductor,” who pretended to be a slave, would sometimes accompany fugitives to a plantation in order to lead them on their journey. Harriet Tubman, a former slave who traveled to slave states 19 times and liberated more than 300 people, is one of the most well-known “conductors.” She used her shotgun to threaten death to any captives who lost heart and sought to return to slavery. The Underground Railroad’s operators faced their own set of risks as well. If someone living in the North was convicted of assisting fugitives in their escape, he or she could face fines of hundreds or even thousands of dollars, which was a significant sum at the time; however, in areas where abolitionism was strong, the “secret” railroad was openly operated, and no one was arrested.

His position as the most significant commander of the Underground Railroad in and around Albany grew as time went on.

However, in previous times of American history, the phrase “vigilance committee” generally refers to citizen organizations that took the law into their own hands, prosecuting and hanging those suspected of crimes when there was no local government or when they considered the local authority was corrupt or weak.

White males who were found assisting slaves in their escape were subjected to heavier punishments than white women, but both were likely to face at the very least incarceration.

The Civil War On The Horizon

Events such as the Missouri Compromise and the Dred Scott decision compelled more anti-slavery activists to take an active part in the effort to liberate slaves in the United States. After Abraham Lincoln was elected president, Southern states began to secede in December 1860, putting an end to the Union’s hopes of achieving independence from the United States. Abolitionist newspapers and even some loud abolitionists warned against giving the remaining Southern states an excuse to separate. Lucia Bagbe (later known as Sara Lucy Bagby Johnson) is considered to be the final slave who was returned to bondage as a result of the Fugitive Slave Law.

Her owner hunted her down and arrested her in December 1860.

Even the Cleveland Leader, a Republican weekly that was traditionally anti-slavery and pro-the Fugitive Slave Legislation, warned its readers that allowing the law to run its course “may be oil thrown upon the seas of our nation’s difficulties,” according to the newspaper.

Following her capture, Lucy was carried back to Ohio County, Virginia, and punished, but she was released at some time when Union soldiers took control of the region. In her honor, a Grand Jubilee was celebrated on May 6, 1863, in the city of Cleveland.

The Reverse Underground Railroad

A “reverse Underground Railroad” arose in the northern states surrounding the Ohio River during the Civil War. The black men and women of those states, whether or not they had previously been slaves, were occasionally kidnapped and concealed in homes, barns, and other structures until they could be transported to the South and sold as slaves.

Underground Railroad

Page that is easy to print An underground railroad system of persons who supported fleeing slaves in their journey for freedom existed prior to the American Civil War and was called the Underground Railroad. The word, which was in usage between around 1830 and 1860, alludes to the slaves’ ability to flee in a quick and “invisible” manner. In most cases, they concealed during the day and migrated throughout the night. As code phrases, the fugitives and others who assisted them utilized railroad terms: hiding spots were referred to as “stations,” those who provided assistance were referred to as “conductors,” and the runaways themselves were referred to as “passengers” or “freight.” Runaway slaves relied primarily on other slaves and free blacks, who were seldom misled by white members of the Underground Railroad, in addition to white members of the Underground Railroad.

• The most well-known black leader in the movement was Harriet Tubman, a fugitive slave who became renowned as the “Moses” of her people despite the fact that she was illiterate.
• The Society of Friends was the driving force behind the Underground Railroad and the abolitionist movement in North Carolina, as well as other states (Quakers).
• In 1809, Quaker slaveholders in Guilford County deeded all of their slaves to the North Carolina Yearly Meeting.
• The Manumission Society, subsequently known as the North Carolina Manumission Society, was founded in Guilford County in 1816 and grew to include numerous chapters and over 1,600 members within a few years of its founding.
• Vestal Coffin operated an Underground Railroad station in Guilford County as early as 1819, according to historical records.
• Among the abolitionists in Guilford County, these four men, particularly Levi, were definitely the most well-known.
• As a result of the large number of fugitive slaves who sought temporary shelter in his home, it became known as “Union Station.” The Compromise of 1850, which brought California to the Union as a free state, included the Fugitive Slave Act, which was passed by the United States Congress.
• Southern states believed that this step would be effective in returning slaves to their masters.
• Many authorities and people in the North not only refused to repatriate the fugitives, but they also began to take an active role in the Underground Railroad’s operations in the South.

Most sure, it was not the influx of escaped slaves that had been predicted by antebellum propagandists and subsequent fiction writers (up to 100,000 people). Indeed, it is likely that the actual figure represented just a small proportion of the total number of slaves held in bondage.

Educator Resources:

Page that is easy to print off Prior to the Civil War, the Underground Railroad was a clandestine network of people who supported escaped slaves in their search for freedom. From around 1830 to 1860, the phrase “invisible escape” was commonly used to describe the fast and “invisible” manner in which slaves escaped. When they migrated at night, they tended to hide during the daytime. As code phrases, the fugitives and those who assisted them utilized railroad terms: hiding spots were referred to as “stations,” those who provided assistance were referred to as “conductors,” and the fugitives themselves were referred to as “passengers” or “freight,” respectively.

1. Harriet Tubman, a nonliterate fugitive slave who became regarded as the “Moses” of her people, was the most well-known black leader of the abolitionist struggle.
2. The Society of Friends was the driving force behind the Underground Railroad and the abolitionist movement in North Carolina and worldwide (Quakers).
3. Quaker slaveholders in Guilford County deeded all of their slaves to the North Carolina Yearly Meeting in 1809.
4. Abolitionist group known as the Manumission Society, which eventually became the North Carolina Manumission Society, was founded in Guilford County in 1816.
5. Following the dissolution of the society in 1834 as a result of legal and other circumstances, many of its members got involved in the Underground Railroad movement.
6. His sons Alfred and Addison, as well as his cousin Levi Coffin, continued on the family business when he passed away.
7. From Newport (now Fountain City), Ind., Levi migrated in 1826 and was given the unofficial title of “presid ent” of the Underground Railroad.

In the South, it was expected that this measure—which required private citizens as well as law enforcement officers to assist in apprehending and returning runaway slaves and imposed severe penalties for those who failed to comply with the statute—would be effective in bringing slaves back to their masters.

Many authorities and individuals in the North not only refused to repatriate the fugitives, but they also became involved in the Underground Railroad on a more active basis.

In any case, it was hardly the influx of escaped slaves that had been predicted by antebellum propagandists and later novelists (up to 100,000 people). Indeed, it is likely that the actual figure represented just a small percentage of the total number of slaves held in bond.

What is the best way to describe the Underground Railroad in textbooks? Read the following passages from American History textbooks with care, and then respond to the questions that follow them: 1. Can you identify any commonalities that emerge from the numerous depictions of the Underground Railroad that you read? 2. What is the definition of the Underground Railroad in textbooks? 3. Which personalities or incidents do they tend to draw attention to the most frequently? 4. What do they have to say about the scope and duration of Underground Railroad operations, specifically?

Which terms, such as network or safe homes, are used the most frequently, and what significance does this have for the study?

Last but not least, after much research and reading, how would you characterize the Underground Railroad?

Thomas A.

Kennedy, The American Spirit, 9th ed., Vol.1 (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1998), 403-404.

By 1850, southerners were calling for a new and more strict fugitive-slave statute that was more in line with their values.

For example, unlike cattle thieves, the abolitionists who conducted the Underground Railroad did not individually profit from their acts of illegality.

In some respects, the moral judgements of the abolitionists were even more galling than actual larceny.

According to estimates, the South was losing around 1,000 runaways each year in 1850, out of a total population of over 4 million slaves.

The principle, on the other hand, weighed decisively in the favor of the slavemasters.

However, according to a southern senator, while the loss of property is felt, the loss of honor is felt even more acutely.

In the early 1800s, there were a number of petty uprisings that took place.

Turner and his supporters were responsible for the deaths of around 60 white people before being apprehended.

Other ways of protest included interfering with the plantation’s daily operations by feigning illness or working slowly, among other measures.

The Underground Railroad, a network of white and African American citizens who assisted escaped slaves on their journey to the United States, provided assistance.

She made at least 19 visits and transported more than 300 slaves to freedom during her time on the mission.

Liberty or death: if I couldn’t have one, I’d accept the other, since no one would ever take my life if I didn’t have to.

Bragdon, Samuel Proctor McCutchen, and Donald A.

343.

The title was chosen in order to invoke memories of the Underground Railroad.

Enslaved persons were brought out of the South, ensuring their freedom.

They not only looked after African Americans once they arrived in the United States, but they also risked their lives to travel inside the slave states and free those who were still enslaved.

Once she had escaped, she returned to the South on many occasions, releasing more than 300 enslaved persons in the process.

Alan Brinkley’s American History: A Survey, Eleventh Edition (Boston: McGraw Hill, 2003), pages 312 and 340, is an excellent resource.

Some black people sought to resist by fleeing the scene.

However, the chances of making a successful escape, particularly from the Deep South, were impossibly slim to non-existent.

As a result, from 1840 onward, abolitionism proceeded via a variety of channels and spoke in a variety of tones.

Another school of thought held that abolition could only be achieved by a protracted, patient, and peaceful fight; they referred to this as “instant abolition gradually realized.” At initially, such moderates relied on moral persuasion to get them to change their minds.

When that failed to generate results, they moved to political action, attempting to persuade the northern states and the federal government to lend their support wherever they could.

They collaborated with the Garrisonians in assisting fugitive slaves to seek shelter in the northern United States or Canada through the so-called underground railroad system (although their efforts were never as highly organized as the terms suggests).

The Underground Railroad was established by certain abolitionists.

Runaways were escorted to stations where they might spend the night by trained conductors.

Others were religious structures such as churches or caves.

Harriet Tubman, for example, was a fearless conductor who had escaped from slavery herself.

She was responsible for the emancipation of more than 300 slaves, including her own parents.

Slave owners offered a $40,000 bounty for her apprehension if she could be apprehended.

Divine and colleagues’ The American Story, 3rd edition (New York: Pearson Education, Inc., 2007), and in Robert A.

Thousands of slaves took to the streets to express their dissatisfaction and longing for freedom.

Some were able to remain free for years by hiding in marshes or other isolated regions, while a small number managed to flee to the northern United States or Mexico, stowing away on ships or journeying hundreds of miles overland to avoid capture.

The Underground Railroad, an informal network of sympathetic free blacks (and a few whites) who assisted fugitives in their journey north, was a lifeline for many fugitives.

Either they resided too far south to have a hope of reaching free soil, or they were unwilling to abandon their families and friends in order to leave them behind.

They were also the primary conductors of the mythical Underground Railroad, which provided a safe haven for fugitives fleeing slavery during the American Civil War.

Free blacks created vigilance committees in northern towns and cities to safeguard fugitives and frustrate the slave-catchers’ attempts to capture them.

Three-hundred-eighth edition of Gary B.

Escape routes were numerous and varied: forging passes, masquerading as master and servant, concealing one’s sexuality, slipping aboard ships, and professing devotion until one was captured and brought away on a journey to the North by the master.

Founded by abolitionists in 1848, the underground railroad was a network of safe homes and stations where escaped slaves could stop, eat, and sleep before continuing their journey.

It is impossible to estimate how many slaves really fled to the northern United States and Canada, although the numbers were not in the tens of thousands.

Nightly patrols by white militiamen, a major element of southern life at the time, lowered the possibilities of any slave escaping and, in many cases, discouraged slaves from even attempting to flee their masters.

1 to 1877, 2nd edition (Boston, MA: Bedford / St.

382; James L.

1 to 1877, 2nd edition (Boston, MA: Bedford / St.

382; James L.

Following her successful escape from Maryland slavery in 1849, Harriet Tubman bravely returned to the South to transport slaves to freedom, risking her life several times in the process.

As an offshoot of antislavery emotions and opposition to white supremacy that united practically all African Americans in the North, this “underground railroad” operated mostly via black neighborhoods, black churches, and black houses.

W.

Shi provide a narrative history of the United States.

Levi Coffin, a Quaker from North Carolina who migrated to Cincinnati and assisted numerous fugitives, was widely regarded as the country’s first president.

A handful of courageous exiles actually returned to slave nations in order to help plan escapes.

Lewis Paul Todd and Merle Curti’s book, Triumph of the American Nation (Orlando: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Publishers, 1986), pages 379 and 380, is a good example of this.

It was neither underground nor a railroad, but it was given this name because its actions were carried out in the dark and in disguise, and because it utilized railroad phrases as code words to communicate with one another.

The railroad’s mission consisted in sheltering fugitive slaves and providing them with food, clothes, and directions to the next stop, among other things.

Harriet Tubman, a former slave who had fled to freedom through the railroad, was the most daring conductor on the line.

It is believed that the Underground Railroad assisted between 40,000 and 100,000 slaves in their efforts to emancipate themselves.

Instructional Materials for Teachers What is the best way to describe the Underground Railroad in textbooks?

Textbook editors are concerned about the lack of concrete data, but they are also hesitant of seeming overly critical of an institution that has become part of national mythology in the process.

As a result, the text is frustrating to read and challenging to teach.

They deserve to know more than only about codes, safe rooms, and a heroic lady conductor called Tubman; they deserve to know more.

The subject of the Underground Railroad receives an average of 180 words each textbook, according to the American Library Association.

No matter how much more material is included on topics such as abolitionists or the Fugitive Slave Law, the amount of space allocated to the topic rarely surpasses a few pages.

According to eight out of 10 history textbooks, Harriet Tubman is the most heroic figure in the Underground Railroad’s history.

When all of the textbooks are combined, only five historical persons are mentioned in addition to Tubman: Levi Coffin (once), Frederick Douglass (twice), Josiah Henson (once), and Nat Turner (once) (once).

The names of major players such as Lewis Hayden (Boston Vigilance Committee), David Ruggles (New York Vigilance Committee), and William Still are not included in any of the textbooks (Philadelphia Vigilance Committee).

In light of this study, the Underground Railroad Digital Classroom at the House Divided has developed its own definition of the Underground Railroad.

A New Definition of the Underground Railroad Northern abolitionists and free blacks used the Underground Railroad as a metaphor to characterize and advertise their attempts to assist fugitive slaves during the years leading up to the American Civil War.

Activists on the Underground Railroad in the North were openly rebellious of federal legislation enacted to assist in the recapture of fugitive children.

These efforts were organized around vigilance committees in northern cities such as Philadelphia, New York, Boston, and Detroit, which served as the backbone of the operation.

William Still in Philadelphia, David Ruggles in New York, Lewis Hayden in Boston, and George DeBaptiste in Detroit were also notable vigilance leaders during this time period.

Even though all of these Underground Railroad personalities operated with relative freedom in the northern United States and Canada, southern operators faced considerable and recurrent hazards and, as a result, kept a somewhat lower profile.

Her numerous rescues inside the slave state of Maryland served as the foundation for her legendary reputation as Moses around the world.

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