The Underground Railroad is a big story in United States History. That's why this report has 32 authors, the students of 4N and 4G. Surprisingly, for such an important and big story, most Americans don't know that much about The Underground Railroad. And, it's all the more surprising because some of the stories of the people who traveled on this "railroad" are dramatic, literally life-and-death tales. As with practically any event one studies from the past, the reader will may very well see people, ideas, and events which seem similar to people, ideas, and events of our modern world. If you click on the links, we will share some interesting stories and pictures with you.
Many people in the U.S.A. who are older than ten years old will have heard of Harriet Tubman and Fredrick Douglass, both successful travelers on the "railroad." Many, but fewer, people will recall hearing the names of William Lloyd Garrison and Harriet Beecher Stowe, white people who worked towards getting enslaved people free. For most Americans, those are the only people's stories which come quickly to mind. We will introduce you to more stories.
Before doing that, however, we want you to have just a little knowledge about how it is that enslaved people got to America. The first permanent settlement in America was in Jamestown, VA. Soon after these colonists got here, they enslaved Africans to work for them. These Africans may well have started their voyage at Goree Island, went on to a horrific Middle Passage, and, upon arriving in America, been sold at a slave market.
Any reader with a conscience will wonder things like: "How could the settlers have allowed people to be enslaved?" If you are interested, please click on the next link to see Defenses of Slavery.
Of course, very early on, other people knew that slavery was wrong, very wrong. One of these people was Anthony Benezet, whose ideas are still famous though his name no longer is.
Being a slave meant working extremely hard, being poorly treated, having no freedom, and quite possibly being split up from one's family. Naturally, an enslaved person's thoughts would turn to escaping. Many slaves dreamt of going to Canada as Lucy and Thornton Blackburn did.
There were so many exciting escapes from the Southern U.S.A. to the somewhat freer Northern U.S.A. and the Promised Land, Canada. Some of these escapes were made by Henry Box Brown, Leah Green, William and Ellen Craft, and Harriet Jacobs. We know you'll enjoy reading about their daring escapades.
They were helped on their journey by a multitude of people, both black skinned and lighter skinned people. Many of these people used their houses as stations on the Underground Railroad. Perhaps the most famous station of all was that manned by John Rankin. His home was in Ohio, just across from Kentucky on the Ohio River.
Rankin was just one of the people who would lead or shelter the enslaved people on their journeys to freedom. These people, particularly if they were black-skinned people, risked their lives for others. We are delighted to share information with you about a few of the workers on "The Railroad: Mary Ann Shad Cary, Levi Coffin, Josiah Henson, David Ruggles, Thomas Garrett, Jermain Loguen, and William Still. David Walker was another brave leader of escaping slaves, though, as you will see if you click on his name, the routes he took were different than those of others.
They were willing to risk their lives because they believed that slavery was just wrong. You can read more about one punishment if you click on this link: The Branding.
Although we have shared with you a few names, it is important to know that there were thousands of others who made their homes, horses, and carriages available to fleeing slaves. Also, many people were willing to spy, to let the workers and the fleeing slaves know when the coast was clear.
People who wanted slavery to end were called Abolitionists. Many of the people named above were abolitionists as well as Underground Railroad workers. Henry David Thoreau, Susan B. Anthony, and Lucretia Mott were three abolitionists who are famous today, but mostly famous for things other than being abolitionists.
The Underground Railroad and slavery itself were changed by goings on in the world. For example, of course the Ohio River continued to be an important boundary. However, human made changes like railroads and The Erie Canal made a big difference on how slaves would escape. An inventor, Eli Whitney, and his invention also made a big difference in the life of enslaved people. Nat Turner's decision to revolt against slavery changed the way enslaved people were treated. Believe it or not, conditions became harsher after he led a revolt.
Not every enslaved person was able to escape slavery by the Underground Railroad, but many were. By 1850, these people could feel a little at ease in the Northern states, though only Canada offered a full sense of freedom. Many Southern slave-owners were frustrated at having lost so many enslaved people. They were able to make a law in Congress called The Fugitive Slave Law. This was bad news for the escaped people. The news became worse when the Supreme Court made its Dred Scott decision.
Many Northern people, blacks and whites, were enraged by this new law. Three interesting stories that show this anger are the story of John Brown, Anthony Burns, and the Christiana Rebellion.
Basically, there was a lot of anger in the country at this time. Whether or not to allow slavery where it existed and whether or not to let it expand to the Western states was the cause of much of this anger. A war was sure to start, and it did. The Civil War was a bloody war. The Underground Railroad ceased to be after the war started, thanks in part to The Emancipation Proclamation and the Thirteenth Amendment to our Constitution.