The Underground
Railroad
The Underground Railroad
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The Underground Railroad was actually an
above-ground series of escape routes for slaves
traveling from the South to the North trying to
gain their freedom.
Slaves traveled by foot, wagons, boats, and
trains.
Slave runaways would usually travel by the light
of night and hide during the day in places known
as stations. These were safe houses owned by
abolitionists.
Abolitionist

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Abolition-The movement to end slavery
Slaves would hide in various places.
Abolitionist – a person who believed and
worked for the abolishment of slavery.
Henry Box Brown
Henry Box Brown
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Henry Brown convinced Samuel A. Smith
to pack him in a box and ship him to
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Henry Box Brown’s trip to Philadelphia was
grueling, in tight quarters.
Brown was set free in Philadelphia and
eventually made his way to Boston, where
he helped fellow escapees on the
Underground Railroad.
Would you take the risk???
 If
the slaves were caught, they
were sold or beaten with a whip;
sometimes they were lynched.
Conductors

Conductors were the
people who led the
runaways to freedom.
Harriett Tubman
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Harriet Tubman was born a slave in Maryland.
When she learned that her owner was going to sell her,
she decided to escape.
Tubman made 19 journeys from the South to the North
as a Conductor on the Underground Railroad.
Harriet Tubman
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Southern Plantation
owners offered
$40,000 for the
capture of Harriet
Tubman.
Plantation Owners
also offered rewards
for the return of
runaway slaves.
Sojourner Truth
Sojourner Truth
was born a slave
in New York, and
she fled to live
with Quakers.
 Truth spoke for
abolition and
women’s rights.

William Lloyd Garrison

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Abolitionist
Published an
antislavery newspaper
The Liberator
Jermain Loguen

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Abolitionist and
Religious Leader
Station master of
Underground Railroad
Estimated 1500
Fugitive slaves passed
through his home
Mary Ann Shadd
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Educated black
children in free and
slave states
Fled to Canada
Spoke out against
Slavery
Educated fugitive
slave children in
Canada
Lucretia Mott
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Lucretia and her husband
boycotted all goods
produced by slave labor.
Abolitionist
Women’s Rights
Spoke at Quaker
meetings against slavery
Attended World
Antislavery Convention in
London in 1840
Fredrick Douglass
 Abolitionist
Speaker
 Published an
autobiography
William Still
Member of the
Pennsylvania
Antislavery
Society
 Established a
number of safe
houses
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Susan B. Anthony
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Fought for women’s
suffrage in the 20th
Century
She worked for
temperance and antislavery movements
John Whittier
American
Abolitionist Poet
 “Quaker Poet” of
freedom
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Jonathan Walker

Jonathan Walker became
a national hero in 1844
when he was tried and
sentenced as a slave
stealer following an
attempt to assist seven
runaway slaves find
freedom. He was
branded on the right
hand with the letters SS
signifying "Slave Stealer".
Josiah Henson
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Josiah Henson was
one of the first slaves
to write his memoirs
after escaping to
freedom.
Harriet Beecher
Stowe acknowledged
that Henson's writings
were the inspiration
for her 1852 novel,
Uncle Tom's Cabin
Routes to Freedom
THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD
THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD
Spirituals
Spirituals
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Spirituals like “Wade in the Water”, “The Gospel
Train” and “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” directly
refer to the Underground Railroad.
Spirituals gradually evolved to serve a variety of
purposes in the fight for freedom:
1)
2)
3)
4)
Singing
Singing
Singing
Singing
as
as
as
as
an expression of values
a source of inspiration or motivation
an expression of protest
a communication tool
Quilts
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During the time of the Underground
Railroad fugitive slaves would use quilts as
a means of communication.
Quilts were used by conductors to help
fugitive slaves flee the South and arrive
safely in the North.
Quilt Usage in the Underground
Railroad
 This
Quilt
represented
the NORTH
STAR
Quilts
 This
quilt
was the
symbol for
the wagon
wheel
Quilts
 This
Quilt
symbolized
a log cabin
Quilts
 This
quilt
symbolized
a
crossroads
The Underground Railroad