The Underground Railroad was a covert network that helped fugitive slaves escape to freedom in the North and Canada. It was run by citizens who provided food, shelter, and transportation, and used railroad jargon for code. White abolitionists and African Americans were involved, and the operation was highly successful, with an estimated 100,000 slaves escaping between 1810 and 1850. Escaping was dangerous, but many heroes emerged, including Harriet Tubman, who personally led over 300 slaves to freedom. The Underground Railroad symbolizes the power to right a terrible wrong and the right to dream of freedom.
The Underground Railroad, which began its underground operations around 1810, was not a railroad at all. This covert network may even have started earlier, in the late 18th century, when George Washington, himself a slave owner, claimed that one of his slaves had escaped with the help of a company run by Quakers. Run by many citizens whose sole purpose was to aid fugitive slaves in their flight to freedom in the North and Canada, the nickname “Underground Railways” arose around the 18th coinciding with the emergence of the steam railways.
The operating jargon of the Underground Railroad was that usually reserved for railroads. A house or business that provided food and a resting place for slaves, for example, was called a “depot” or “station,” which was staffed by a “stationmaster.” Those who contributed money or goods to the Underground Railroad were called “shareholders” and the “conductor” was the person responsible for transporting the slaves between stations.
Many of the Underground Railroad’s participants were white abolitionists and thoughtful citizens, but many more were African Americans determined to see their brethren live free or die trying. All members of the Underground Railroad were involved only in the local aspects of escape routes, and none knew the entire sub rosa operation, which protected their anonymity. The Underground Railroad was highly successful and the South was estimated to have lost 100,000 slaves who escaped to freedom between the years of 1810 and 1850.
Escaping was a dangerous business as escapes had to take place at night and required careful planning. Various vigilante groups that sprung up in New York, Philadelphia, and Boston provided transportation, food, lodging, money, and clothing. The Underground Railroad fathered many silent heroes, but among those counted should be John Fairfield, son of a Virginia slave family; Levi Coffin, a Quaker who personally aided more than 3,000 slaves; and last but not least, the simple, little woman known as “the Moses of her people,” Harriet Tubman.
Born into slavery, her childhood was very hard. When she was twenty, a white neighbor gave her a piece of paper with two names on it and told her how to find her first house on the road to freedom. Under cover of darkness with only the North Star to guide her, she made her way to Philadelphia where she met the station master, William Still and other members of the Anti Slavery Society. She alone over the course of ten years and nineteen journeys she led more than 300 slaves to freedom via the Underground Railroad.
A testament to America’s shameful past, the Underground Railroad symbolizes humanity’s power to right a terrible wrong and the indomitable right to dream a dream of freedom for every man, woman and child ever born.
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