THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD
AMERICANA PROGRAM 2010
Doha, Qatar
What railroad had passengers, conductors,
stations, and station masters, but no train cars
or rails??????
The Underground Railroad!
Was it underground?
Did it have cars?
Did it run on train tracks?
What was the Underground Railroad?
Scenes from slavery
A network of people who
helped slaves from the
southern United States
escape to the free
northern US and to
Canada between 1810
and 1865 (Civil War).
Traveling on the UGRR
• Passengers – runaway slaves
• Conductor- a person who guided or transported the runaways to the next
station.
• Station stops -(safe houses)
• Safe houses- houses where runaways could hide safely, find shelter, food ,
clothing and help on their way north toward freedom.
• Station master- person at the safe house who would help the escaping slaves
Signals
• A lantern on a hitching post means a safe
house or station house
• Special knocks
• Quilts
(basket pattern= begin gathering
supplies and tools for escape)
Transportation
• On foot
• Through water (so dogs couldn’t find their
scent)
• By wagon
Henry “Box” Brown, a slave, had himself shipped
from Richmond to Philadelphia in a wooden box.
How did the slaves escape
to the north?
• Routes and systems
(conductors, stations, and
station masters) who
helped slaves get to the
north to freedom.
• Escaping slaves and their
helpers were breaking the
law so they had to stay out
of sight or get caught! They
went “underground,” hiding
their actions. Some hid in
unusual places.
•
Note the secret compartment
of the cupboard in this house.
The top cupboard is closed and
the bottom one is open to
reveal a hidden room!
Hiding escaped slaves
US Map 1700’s-1800’s
What dangers did they face?
One famous African American during that time:
Harriet Tubman and passengers to freedom
Who was Harriet Tubman?
• An escaped slave! Once she
escaped and was free, she
went back to the southern
part of the US to help other
slaves escape to freedom in
the northern states where
slavery was not allowed!
Harriet Tubman was considered the
Moses of her time
The Underground Railroad(1810-1865)
took place during part of the Civil War
War of the northern states
against the southern states was
really caused by slavery issue
Southern Confederate flag and the
northern Union flag
During the Civil War between the northern
states and southern states President Abraham
Lincoln issued:
Emancipation Proclamation
ABRAHAM LINCOLN
• on Jan. 1, 1863, declaring all
"slaves within any State, or
designated part of a State. . .
then. . . in rebellion,. . . shall be
then, thenceforward, and
forever free."
When the Civil War ended, the nation remained
as a Union of both north and south.
• The 13th Amendment was
added to the US Constitution
References
•
http://www2.lhric.org/POCANTICO/tubman/timelin
e2/1869.htm
•
•
Source: The freedom-seekers: Blacks in early Canada
Daniel G. Hill -- Don Mills, Ont.: Stoddart, 1992,
c1981. -- vii, 242 p. : ill. ; 26 cm. -- ISBN
0773755586. -- P. 38© Public Domainnlc-1862
•
•
http://www.nps.gov/history/nR/travel/underground
/routes.htm
http://www.worldalmanacforkids.com/WAKIViewAr
ticle.aspx?pin=xem036400a&article_id=683&chapte
r_id=15&chapter_title=United_States&article_title=
Emancipation_Proclamation
•
•
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/features/99/ra
ilroad/kids.html
•
http://www.proteacher.com/cgibin/outsidesite.cgi?id=17444&external=http://www
.nationalgeographic.com/features/99/railroad/j1.ht
ml&original=http://www.proteacher.com/090053.s
html&title=The Underground Railroad
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/li
ncolns/atwar/sf_soldier.htm
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/li
ncolns/slavery/es_underground.ht
ml#