The Underground Railroad

The Underground Railroad was one of the most fascinating and gripping phenomena to emerge from the brutal period of American slavery. In fact, it was neither underground nor any kind of railroad, but an intricate, loosely organized, and highly secretive network of people dedicated to helping black slaves escape from bondage in the Southern states to freedom in the northern United States, Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean. Because few of its members dared to keep records of their activities, much of the Railroad’s history has been transmitted orally, or lost. Nevertheless, it is possible to reconstruct a vivid picture of the people involved and the great challenges they faced.

Established as early as the late 16th century, when the first captive laborer were brought to the New World from Africa, the Railroad consisted of an Informal arrangement of “stattonmasters”ーpeople who provided food and refuge, their “stations”ー the houses, shops, or barns where they provided shelter, and “conductors”ーthose who guided escaped slaves along the difficult routes to safety. All kinds of people worked on the Railroad, including preachers, politicians, farmers, storekeepers, former slaves, and even Native Americans. Most had no knowledge that they worked as part of an organization that reached all across the United States ー but they were united by their hatred of the institution of slavery and their desire to help those struggling to escape.

Perhaps the most famous of Railroad workers was Harriet Tubman. Born a slave in Maryland, Tubman escaped through the. Railroad at the age of 25, and eventually became a conductor herself. Over a 10-year period , she made nearly 20 trips back into the South to lead to safety many members of her family, and dozens of others besides, perhaps as many as 300 in all.

The conditions faced by runaways were severe. Often forced to travel at night,they would navigate by the North Star. Rivers, swamps,and forests lay in their way. They could carry little food, and depended on station masters and conductors to keep them from starvation. Sometimes the lucky ones could travel by wagon, ship, or horse, but most had to go on foot. If they were unable to actually leave the Southern states, they might have no choice but to take up residence deep in swamps or in mountainous areas, separated from their families and isolated from the world, or to join communities of Native Americans.


The risks faced by fugitives were formidable. Recapture was unthinkable: escapees would endure terrible punishments, including mutilation or amputation of limbs, harder labor than before, or sale “down the river” ー deeper into the South and even farther from freedom. After the Fugitive Slave Law was passed in 1850, a new class of professional slave hunters arose, paid handsomely to catch runaway slaves and return them to their owners; they could even pursue their quarry into the free Northern regions. Young men were the most successful in traveling the Railroad, though sometimes women and children would also manage to escape. Strength and speed were critical. Slaves would occasionally employ disguises, trying to pass themselves as messengers on errands, or even, in the case of the lighter-skinned slaves. as whites. Holidays and weekends were the best times to escape, or any other circumstance that permitted a head start on the authorities.

Activity on the Railroad reached a peak in the last few decades before the outbreak of the American Civil War In 1861. The great political tension created by the institution of slavery was already tearing the country apart. Whites in the South generally felt that slavery was an indispensable part of their culture; their economy certainly depended on it, and moreover, they resented being dictated to from the North and from Washington. Those in the North, on the other hand, could only see the brutality in slavery, and the hypocrisy it meant in a country claiming to be founded on the principle of freedom and equality for all mankind. Though terribly destructive, the Civil War ultimately settled the question, and with the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment on December 18. 1865, it became law that “neither slavery nor involuntary servitude・・・・shall exist in the United States.”