Underground Railroad A-Z People, Places, and Perspectives

The following is a slide show is a a to z summary of the Underground Railroad. The Underground Railroad was not actually a railroad it was more of a path to freedom. Slaves would follow the path to get to the northern states or Canada but they weren’t just free yet, they could be captured and brought back to their masters. Slaves normally worked on plantations or sometimes took care of their master’s kids, and did house work. Slavery wasn’t abolished till the end of the Civil War in1865. Slaves also worked on plantations. Their masters didn’t want to be rude or harmful to them they just needed the help on there plantations.

A Abolitionists A person who advocated or supported the abolition of slavery in the U.S.

B Henry “Box” Brown Henry brown is famous for escaping to Philadelphia, he escaped slavery by mailing him self in a box so now people call him Henry box brown. Henry was born into slavery In 1815 in Louisa County, Virginia. He worked in a tobacco factory. He also married a slave, Nancy, and they had three children.

C Civil War Abraham Lincoln tried his best to keep the states united, but failed when both sides rejected a peace treaty that became know as “The Pickwick Papers.” the southern states wanted slavery and the northern didn’t. The civil war ended in 1865.

D Drinking Gourd The drinking gourd was made into a song called “follow the drinking gourd.” Slaves couldn’t read or write so instead of writing directions on how to get to the North they sang songs, called Spirituals, that taught how to get to freedom.

E Emancipation Proclamation The Emancipation Proclamation didn’t free all slaves in the United States. Rather, it declared free only those slaves living in states not under Union control.

F Fugitive Slave Acts It was a law citizens were required to assist capturing run away slaves. If you caught helping a slave you were either fined 1,000 or went 2 jail for 6 months.

G William Garrison He was a newspaper writer and printer. On 1 article he was sent to jail. And he wanted to stop slavery. He owned a an anti slavery newspaper called the Liberator.

H Harriet Tubman Harriet Tubman was also a slave who escaped to the north. She went back and forth slaves 17 times and if you caught her your reward would be like $40,000. ‘’I looked at my hands to see if I was the same person now that I was free.’’

I Illiterate Illiterate means not to be able to read or write. Slaves were not aloud to read or write. Because it was a law. The owners didn’t want the slaves to be able to communicate.

J Jeopardy If you help slaves run away you have just put yourself in jeopardy. You and your family would also be in jeopardy. And for the slave he would probably die or get whipped if he gets caught.

K Kindness Harriet Tubman used to be a slave, but she showed an act of kindness. She and many others helped the slaves get to the free states or the north. The north or Canada was the safest place to be because the Canadian government abolished hunting there.

L Load of Potatoes Load of potatoes is a code word of having slaves. It meant that you had slaves with you and them needing your assistance. Another code word was bundle of wood It was also referring to having slaves. Codes were often used to communicate in the Underground Railroad.

M Mason-Dixon Line The Mason-Dixon line was the boundary line between the north and the south states. Or the boundary between slavery (south) and anti slavery(north).

N North Star The north star is what the slaves used to get to the free states. They found the north star in the ‘’drinking gourd’’ witch is the little dipper. They used the north star and the drinking gourd (little dipper). They used the drinking gourd as a guide.

O Ownership In this term ownership is owning a slave. If a baby was born when the mother was a slave, the baby is born into slavery. If your owner let you go you were a very lucky man or woman. Sometimes you got paid by your owner. But you could get whipped or severely beaten.

P Punishment Punishment for trying to escaping slavery is maybe being whipped, or even being killed. One person who was in charge of whipping slaves when they did something their master didn’t like, he would hook them up to a pole and hit the other on to make it seem like he was hitting them.

Q Quakers Quakers are members of a religious group that wanted to abolish slavery. Many Quakers let slaves stay at their homes to get rest. One Quaker named Levi Coffin his home was a station on the Underground Railroad; he helped more than 2,000 slaves escape.

R Rights Slaves did not have rights. They were considered property. Slaves were kept isolated and not allowed to read and write. They could not travel, own houses, they couldn’t just go out to the store and buy groceries, and they could not send their kids to school.

S Slavery Slaves were from Africa and captred and taken to America. They had masters, and no rights. Slaves were forced to work, and beaten if the didn’t. Slaves were brought to America in the 1600’s, and were officially free after the Civil War ended in 1865.

T Thomas Garrett Is a white Quaker man, whose family hid runaway slaves in its Delaware County farmhouse. In 1848, Thomas Garrett and a fellow abolitionist John Hunn were tried and convicted for aiding in the escape of the Hawkins family who had been slaves in Maryland. Both men were given considerable fines which rendered them nearly bankrupt.

U Underground Railroad The underground railroad is a secret network of people and places that helped slave (the black people) to escape. It’s not a real railroad.

V Victorious The North was victorious and won the Civil war and abolish slavery.

W William Still Often called The Father of the Underground Railroad he saves more then 60 people.

X Xenophobia Xenophobia is an unreasonable fear, distrust or hatred of strangers, foreigners, or anything foreign. Some people used this fear of the Africans as an reason or excuse for treating them badly.

Y Yankee It’s a term for a person who lived in the North during the Civil War. The term began as a negative term that mocked the North soldiers but came to be viewed as a symbol of American pride.

Z Zig Zag Zig zag is when the slaves leave and instead a straight path they had to go in a zig zag path to make sure that their master wouldn’t follow them as easily.

The End