Underground Railroad

(Harriet Tubman (far left) standing with a group of slaves whose escape she assisted)

In this blog, I am going to talk about the Underground Railroad; without the help of some very kindhearted white people, we would not have the freedom we have today.

The Underground Railroad was the term used to transport fugitive slaves to Canada, underground without anyone knowing. The Underground Railroad became a network where men and woman would set aside assumptions about the other race and work together as a unit.

The Underground Railroad was very similar to an actual railroad, even though a railroad was never used. The terms used to transport a slave were the same terms used during a railroad journey; the routes from safe house to safe house where fugitive slaves were kept were called ‘lines’, stopping places were called ‘stations’, those who helped with the fugitive slaves were called ‘conductors’ and the fugitives themselves were called ‘cargo’.

The process of escaping takes a lot of time and planning. You have to be strong hearted and you have to want it very badly, that you would do anything to reach your destiny. It all starts when you decide to run away from your plantation with the help of a white ‘conductor’ or a former slave who got his freedom, came back, and pretended he was a slave so he could help other slaves get away. They will tell you where to go, what to do, whom to trust and from there, it is up to you. There is a very high risk of being caught and killed from the bounty hunters.

You are forced to run in the woods, move at night and hide during the day, you can barely stay in one place long enough to get comfortable, you are always on the go. There is bloodhounds tracking you if they catch you, you are finished. When you reach a safe house there is a lit lantern in the front lawn, all you have to do is trust the white home owners with your life. If you trust them enough to knock on their door, awaiting you is food and warm clothes. They are breaking the law, hiding fugitives in their house. When people come knocking on doors, you are forced to hide, and they will protect you as best as they can.

You were not always on your feet running, you were hidden underneath wagons or carts with false bottoms. Most of the time when you were being transported you were not comfortable, there could be up to five people hiding with you in the same spot. Stations were usually about 20 miles apart.

The Underground Railroad went through Kentucky and Virginia and across Ohio and Indiana. It went through Maryland and across Pennsylvania and then into New York and through New England. The best-known conductors that helped along the way were: William Still, Gerrit Smith, Salmon Chase, David Ruggle, Thomas Garrett, William Purvis, Jane Grey Swisshelm, William Wells Brown, Frederick Douglass, Henry David Thoreau, Lucretia Mott, Charles Langston, Levin Coffin, Calvin Fairbank and Susan B. Anthony.

Plantation owners were getting angry and concerned with all the runaway slaves going to the north, so in 1850 they managed to sway Congress to create the ‘Fugitive Slave Act’. In the future any marshal that didn’t arrest a runaway slave would be fined $1, 000 and any one that was helping the fugitives were liable to six months in prison and a fine of $1,000. The ‘Fugitive Slave Act’ did not stop the Underground Railroad, Thomas Garrett, the Delaware station master, paid more than $8,000 in fines and Calvin Fairbank served over 17 years in prison for his anti-slavery actions. John Fairfield was known as one of the best white conductors and he was killed working for the Underground Railroad.

Even blacks that made it to Canada would help with the transport of fugitives, Harriet Tubman was a former slave who ran away from a plantation in 1849, but returned to help in the escape of many former slaves. She has never lost a passenger and she helped in saving many slaves. She made 19 secret trips to the South, which she led 300 slaves to freedom. She was a major threat to the slave system that plantation owners offered a $40,000 reward for her capture.

There were approximately 70,000 slaves who escaped to freedom with the help of the movement of the Underground Railroad. It was a major act against slavery and in the end it worked out for the best. There is a book called, Underground to Canada, by Barbara Smucker, which is an amazing novel, I believe you should read it if you fully want to understand how the Underground Railroad functioned.