The+Underground+Railroad

THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD...

The Underground Railroad wansn't underground, and it wasn't even a railroad. The Underground Railroad was actually a secret network of people that helped runaway slaves get to the north or Canada where they could be free. it was made up of a series of secret routes and safe houses. a safe house is a place where the slaves could stop and rest without getting caught. the owners of the safe houses would hide the slaves if needed. safe houses were often called "stations". the slaves would travel from one safe house to another until they reached their destination. there were people who helped the slaves escape and showed them the routes-- they were called "conductors". conductors were abolitionists (people who felt bad for the slaves) or slaves that had already escaped. sometimes a conductor would enter a plantation and pretend that they were a slave. once they were a part of the plantation, they would help direct the slaves to the north. the slaves traveled almost exclusively at night, so as to give them a bigger chance of not getting caught. They used code words for things when they talked so as to not be discovered. the code words they used were based on railway words, like "stations" and "conductors". there were also many other words like that, for example: escaped slaves were often called "passengers" or "cargo".

there were several famous "conductors" that were a big part of helping many slaves get to canada. one of them is William Still. He was often called "the father of the underground railroad". he helped hundreds of slaves to escape, as many as 60 a month. he kept caregul records of the people he helped. he stayed in contact with many of them and acted as middleman with communications beween the escaped slaves and the slaves that were still in plantations. he also kept short biographies of many of the people. he published these things in his book "The Underground Railroad" in 1872.



Harriet Tubman was also a famous conductor in the underground railroad. like william still, she also helped the slaves escape to the north. She was born into slavery in 1822. as a child she was beaten by her various masters. early in life, she suffered a traumatic head wound when she was hit by a heavy metal weight that was thrown and was intended to hit another slave. the head wound caused seizures, headaches, and powere visionary and dream activity. in 1849, she escaped from maryland to philadelphia, but then immediately returned to maryland to rescue her family. she took them out one at a time, and eventually guided dozens of other slaves to freedom.