Still, it effectively moved hundreds of slaves northward each year -- according to one estimate, the South lost , slaves between and An organized system to assist runaway slaves seems to have begun towards the end of the 18th century.
In George Washington complained about how one of his runaway slaves was helped by a "society of Quakers, formed for such purposes. The system even used terms used in railroading: the homes and businesses where fugitives would rest and eat were called "stations" and "depots" and were run by "stationmasters," those who contributed money or goods were "stockholders," and the "conductor" was responsible for moving fugitives from one station to the next.
For the slave, running away to the North was anything but easy. The first step was to escape from the slaveholder. For many slaves, this meant relying on his or her own resources.
The Underground Railroad was a large-scale activity that enabled hundreds of thousands of people to escape their bondage. Entire families commonly escaped together. First, a short history of the Underground Railroad:. Since the end of the 19th century, many Americans — especially in New England and the Midwest — have either fabricated stories about the exploits of their ancestors or simply repeated tales they have heard.
Various explanations exist for how it was coined. His owner had been pursuing Davids but lost track of him in Ohio. I love this story — an account worthy of Richard Pryor — but this seems unlikely, since rail lines barely existed at this time.
Two other possibilities exist. One story from claims that a fugitive slave from Washington, D. Torrey coined the phrase in In any event, as David Blight states, the phrase did not become common until the mids. The appeal of romance and fancy in stories of the Underground Railroad can be traced to the latter decades of the 19th century, when the South was winning the battle of popular memory over the meaning of the Civil War — sending Lost Cause mythology deep into the national psyche and eventually helping to propel the Virginia-born racist Woodrow Wilson into the White House.
In the face of a dominating Southern interpretation of the meaning of the Civil War, many white Northerners sought to preserve a heroic version of their past and found a useful tool in legends of the Underground Railroad. Siebert interviewed nearly everyone still living who had some memory related to the network and even traveled to Canada to interview former slaves who traced their own routes from the South to freedom. While Siebert ignored the most fanciful stories he heard, he placed far too much emphasis on the work of so-called white conductors and depicted the experience as a very systematic and interrelated series of way stations and routes — which he traced in detailed maps — not unlike a railroad line or system of rail lines.
The Underground Railroad and the abolition movement itself were perhaps the first instances in American history of a genuinely interracial coalition, and the role of the Quakers in its success cannot be gainsaid.
It was, nevertheless, predominantly run by free Northern African Americans, especially in its earliest years, most notably the great Philadelphian William Still. He operated with the assistance of white abolitionists, many of whom were Quakers. William Still himself, according to James Horton, recorded the rescue of fugitives sheltered in Philadelphia, including 16 who arrived on one day alone, June 1, , according to Blight. But very few people, relatively speaking, engaged in its activities.
After all, it was illegal to assist slaves escaping to their freedom. The Underground Railroad was primarily a Northern phenomenon. It operated mainly in the Free States, which stands to reason. It was then that the Underground Railroad could take effect. Runaway slaves had to travel great distances, many times on foot, in a short amount of time. They did this with little or no food and no protection from the slave catchers chasing them.
Slave owners were not the only pursuers of fugitive slaves. In order to entice others to assist in the capture of these slaves, their owners would post reward posters offering payment for the capture of their property. If they were caught, any number of terrible things could happen to them. Many captured fugitive slaves were flogged, branded, jailed, sold back into slavery, or even killed. Not only did fugitive slaves have the fear of starvation and capture, but there were also threats presented by their surroundings.
While traveling for long periods of time in the wilderness, they would have to fend off animals wanting to kill and eat them, cross treacherous terrain, and survive severe temperatures. For the slaves traveling north on the Underground Railroad, they were still in danger once they entered northern states. The Fugitive Slave Law of allowed and encouraged the capture of fugitive slaves due to the fact that they were seen as stolen property, rather than abused human beings.
The Fugitive Slave Law of also outlawed the abetting of fugitive slaves. Their safety and freedom would not be reached until they entered into Canada. Not all slaves traveled north. There were also Underground Railroad lines that lead south en route for Mexico and the Caribbean. He was taken from his northern residence, arrested, and tried under this law in Boston, Massachusetts. His arrest spurred black and white abolitionists and citizens of Boston to riot and protest. After the trial, Burns was taken back to cruelty of the south which he thought he had escaped from.
While he was enduring his return to slavery, abolitionists were working to raise funds and within a year of his trial they had enough money to buy his freedom. Accessed Frederick Douglass was another fugitive slave who escaped slavery.
He escaped not on the Underground Railroad, but on a real train. He disguised himself as a sailor, but this was not enough. Luckily, the train conductor did not look closely at the papers, and Douglass gained his passage to freedom. Unfortunately, not all runaway slaves made it to freedom. But, many of those who did manage to escape went on to tell their stories of flight from slavery and to help other slaves not yet free. He shipped himself in a three foot long by two and a half foot deep by two foot wide box, from Richmond, Virginia to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
When he was removed from the box, he came out singing. Underground Railroad conductors were free individuals who helped fugitive slaves traveling along the Underground Railroad. Conductors helped runaway slaves by providing them with safe passage to and from stations.
They did this under the cover of darkness with slave catchers hot on their heels. Many times these stations would be located within their own homes and businesses.
The act of harboring fugitive slaves put these conductors in grave danger; yet, they persisted because they believed in a cause greater than themselves, which was the freeing of thousands of enslaved human beings. These conductors were comprised of a diverse group of people. They included people of different races, occupations and income levels.
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