The Underground Railroad

Throughout 1700s-1865, totally free African Americans and white abolitionists who were against slavery, developed a secret network of men and women who helped fugitive slaves in their escape from slavery. The people who aided the slaves have been identified as “conductors”. The fugitive slaves hid in private residences, churches, and schoolhouses. They would hide fugitives in secret tunnels and false cupboards. They also offered them with meals and some clothing and then directed them to the subsequent property, or “station”. The individuals who operated them had been referred to as “stationmasters”. The network then became identified as the Underground Railroad.

No one knows exactly when the Underground Railroad started. “The earliest mention of the Underground Railroad came in 1831 when slave Tice Davids escaped from Kentucky to Ohio and his owner blamed an “underground railroad” for helping Davids to freedom” (History). As soon as slaves who were aided by the Underground Railroad have been free of charge, they would escape to border states such as Maryland, Kentucky, and Virginia. With the Fugitive Slave Act of 1793, that had permitted the neighborhood law enforcement to capture escaped slaves inside the free state borders, and then send them back to where they had escaped, then punish any person who aided in their rescue. Most slaves had to escape to Canada, where slavery was prohibited, to escape slave bounty hunters who sought to track down runaway slaves. Several various types of men and women helped free African Americans by way of the Underground Railroad. They varied from white abolitionists to cost-free slaves who have previously escaped from enslavement. One of the free slaves who aided in freeing African slaves was Harriet Tubman.

Harriet Tubman was one particular of the most famous conductors of the Underground Railroad.”Tubman risked her life to lead hundreds of family members members and other slaves from the plantation technique to freedom on this elaborate secret network of safe houses” (Biography.com). Her original name was Araminta Ross, but then changed it when she escaped a plantation in Maryland with two of her brothers. Tubman was born into slavery. In her early childhood, Harriet suffered a traumatic head wound from the blow of a heavy metal weight. Her injury brought on her to suffer from dizziness, discomfort, and sleeping spells. She was stated to have had visions and weird dreams , stated to have been premonitions from God. She also worked as a spy for the Union Army during the Civil War. Harriet Tubman also went by the nickname “Moses” due to the fact of the bounty on her head for helping rescue the slaves. Tubman risked her life to assist lead hundreds of African Americans slaves to freedom. In total, she created more than 19 trips to the South and saved more than 300 slaves from slavery.

The Underground Railroad then ceased to exist around 1863, right around the Civil War. Once once again, Harriet Tubman played a substantial role in helping the Union efforts against the Confederacy. She helped in the Union Army operations to free the emancipated slaves that had been yet to be set free of charge.