Underground Railroad Road To Freedom

Underground Railroad (UGRR): the network of people and places who assisted fugitive slaves escape from slavery in the South.

Conductors: People who guided slaves from place to place. Safe House or Stations: locations where slaves would safely find protection, food, or a place to sleep Terminology

Station Masters: People who hid fugitive slaves in their homes, barns, or churches Cargo: Slaves who were in the safekeeping of a conductor or station master Terminology

Underground Railroad activity did not literally take place underground or via a railroad, nor was it an official organization with defined structure. It was a loose network of people who attempted to move enslaved individuals escaping from slavery to and from safe places in a quick and largely secretive manner.

Most widespread during the three decades prior to the Civil War, this activity primarily took place in the regions bordering slave states, with the Ohio River being the center of much of the activity.

The actual routes of the Underground Railroad were determined chiefly by three factors: Geographical location Availability of workers, and Political climate in North America.

Geographical Location The first factor was geographical location: a border state en route to Canada. Generally above the Ohio River in the Midwest, along the state line of Pennsylvania in the East, and stretching into Canada.

Underground Railroad Routes

Underground Railroad Routes

Availability of Workers: Abolitionists and Conductors Conductors: 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. Stations were often located within their own homes and businesses.

Different Occupations Different Races Different Occupations Diverse groups of people Different income levels Served as guides Conductors Diverse groups of people Former slaves who had escaped through the underground railroad Risked their lives If caught, they could be fined, imprisoned, branded, or hanged

The Quakers played the biggest role Quakers and UGRR Abolitionists and members of various religious groups, participated in the Underground Railroad. The Quakers played the biggest role

Political Climate: Dangerous Path To Freedom Traveling along the Underground Railroad: a long a perilous journey Often on foot, in a short amount of time. little or no food /no protection reward posters offering payment for the capture of slaves If captured - flogged, branded, jailed, sold back into slavery, or even killed.

Code Words Code words were used to help slaves find their way North. The Big Dipper/handle pointed toward the North Star = "drinking gourd." The Ohio River = the River Jordan. Canada = "Promised Land"

Cleveland = "Hope." Sandusky = "Sunrise." Seville, Ohio = 20.

"By Tuesday you shall receive a shipment of four large kegs of dark ale and one small one." was a message that four adults and one child would be arriving at the station. There were signs. A quilt hanging on a clothesline with a house and a smoking chimney among its designs indicated a safe house. There were signals. Each house had its own combination of knocks. For example, (three knocks), "Who’s there?" "A friend with friends."

Quilts As Codes It is believed that quilts were also used as a communication tool for the Underground Railroad.

Monkey Wrench This meant the slaves were to gather all the tools they might need on the journey to freedom. to build shelters compasses weapons

Crossroads Travel to the crossroads = Cleveland, Ohio. Any quilt hung before this one would have given directions to Ohio.

Flying Geese Told the slaves to follow migrating geese north towards Canada and to Freedom. Used for directions as well as the best season for slaves to escape.

Log Cabin Where safe houses were. People identified themselves as friends to slaves by tracing this pattern in dirt as a signal. Told slaves to look for this symbol on their journey to freedom.

Songs

Follow the Drinking Gourd

Disquises Successful disguise - inconspicuous clothes of the Quakers: a light gray dress and a bonnet with a heavy veil. Or just the opposite rich looking clothes. Slave catchers would be looking for fugitives in rags.

Hiding Places False walls were built into attics. Secret chambers / "liberty rooms” - included as floor plans. fake closets Trapdoors hidden tunnels church belfries empty schoolhouses. The woodpile outside might have a room in its center The bank of coal might be hollow. One fugitive lived in a haystack for six weeks Even funeral processions served as hiding places, with fugitives placed in the coffins.

Fugitive Slave Acts It is important to realize that while conductors and fugitive slaves were participating on the Underground Railroad, all of their actions were illegal. The federal government had passed Fugitive Slave Acts as early as 1793 that allowed slave catchers to come north and force runaways back into slavery. By the 1830s and 1840s, these laws were expanded in reaction to increased Underground Railroad activity.

With the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, assisting or helping hide fugitive slaves became a federal offense, making all Underground Railroad activity subject to six months in prison and a $1,000 fine. Escaping from slavery or helping someone to escape from slavery was a very difficult and dangerous task.

Journey to Freedom During these 30 years, it has been reported that over 100,000 slaves made the journey via the Underground Railroad to Freedom.

Perhaps no song is more closely associated with the Underground Railroad than this one. To follow the North Star was the message embedded in this spiritual; instructions are included in the song to follow the points of the drinking gourd (the Big Dipper) to the brightest star, which is the North Star.

The first verse instructs slaves to leave in the winter—“When the sun comes back” refers to winter and spring when the altitude of the sun at noon is higher each day. Quail, a migratory bird, spends the winter in the South. The “drinking gourd” refers to the Big Dipper, “the old man” means Peg Leg Joe, and “the great big river” refers to the Ohio River.

The second verse told slaves to follow the bank of the Tombigbee River north. They were to look for dead trees marked with the drawings of a left foot and a round mark, denoting a peg leg. In the third verse, the hidden message instructed the slaves to continue north over the hills when they reached the Tombigbee’s headwaters. From there, they were to travel along another river—the Tennessee. There were several Underground Railroad routes that met up on the Tennessee.

Slaves were told that the Tennessee joined another river in the song’s last verse. Once they crossed that river, a guide would meet them on the north bank and guide them on the rest of their journey to freedom.