Bell Ringer #8 – 11/30/09 List 3 things you have learned, in the past, about the Underground Railroad.

The Underground Railroad The organized escape routes for slaves from the Chesapeak, Kentucky, and Missouri that developed in the mid-1830s Escapees raised money to pay for escape northward, recruited other escapees, and sometimes became “railroad agents” themselves http://www.history.com/video.do?name=blackhistory&bcpid=2755207001&bclid=7053293001&bctid=7227461001

Ripley, Ohio Home to one of the best underground railroad organizations Black and white residents helped fugitive slaves from slave-holding Kentucky cross the Ohio River and head north to Canada Lanterns at night were used for codes

Escape Methods The Railroad had no one designated route. Rather, those who operated and traveled it chose routes and methods of escape that were most likely to evade capture. Included: Abandoned mine shafts, tunnels built by smugglers, covered wagons or carts with false bottoms, hidden compartments in floors and closets.

“Follow the Drinking Gourd” While escaped slaves did not have a map to guide them, they did have a song that served as a verbal rendition of a map. The song, entitled "Follow the Drinking Gourd," refers to the constellation called the Big Dipper, whose end stars, the "pointers," guide one's gaze to Polaris, the North Star. The song, considered a coded reference to the route north to freedom, was taught to the slaves on southern plantations by a carpenter named Peg Leg Joe. http://www.last.fm/music/Richie+Havens/_/Follow+the+Drinking+Gourd

Lyrics When the sun comes back, and the first Quail calls, Follow the drinking gourd, For the old man is waiting for to carry you to freedom If you follow the drinking gourd. Follow the drinking gourd, For the old man is waiting for to carry you to freedom If you follow the drinking gourd. The riverbank will make a very good road, The dead trees show you the way. Left foot, peg foot traveling on, Following the drinking gourd.

The river ends between two hills, Follow the drinking gourd, There's another river on the other side, Follow the drinking gourd. When the great big river meets the little river, Follow the drinking gourd. For the old man is waiting for to carry you to freedom If you follow the drinking gourd.

Homework Read Ch 9, Sn 4 Answer all questions and key terms on page 293