Underground Railroad

Following the drinking gourd, a term used by Negro slaves for the Big Dipper and North Star, was one sure way to proceed on the Underground Railroad. Neither a railway nor a defined road north, the Underground Railroad consisted rather of a series of safe houses and sympathetic individuals who were willing to risk their own lives to help escaping slaves find their way to freedom. The identity of these people, both black and white, was a well-kept secret, known only those who sought a free existence, helped others attain theirs, or were sincerely committed to abolition and treating black people as human beings.

This vast network of people who helped fugitives find their way to the northern United States and Canada was not centrally organized, and those who participated knew only about their local piece of the operation. In the South, most were blacks who hid escaping slaves in barns and caves. In the border states and the North, many were Quakers. Together they were able to facilitate the movement of hundreds of slaves from as early as the end of the 18th century. George Washington noted that one of his “runaways” was aided by a Quaker society that was created for that very purpose.

The name Underground Railroad did not emerge until 1830, just as steam railroads were being built. Thus, the vocabulary of railroading came naturally. Homes and shops where escaping slaves could eat and rest were known as stations or depots, while those who sheltered them were called stationmasters. People who contributed money or other resources were known as stockholders, while conductors helped move fugitive blacks between stations. As many as 100,000 slaves escaped from the South between 1810 and 1850.

The trip required courage, patience, and physical strength. If slaves managed to escape the men and bloodhounds employed to hunt down runaways, they would then have to stay hidden in uncomfortable conditions, sometimes for days. They waited while messages, often in the form of songs or quilt patterns, were sent to the next station. With the help of conductors, slaves would move at night, traveling 10 to 20 miles to the next stop. Stockholders donated money for clothes, food, and occasional travel by train or boat. Vigilance committees in towns and cities, including New York, Boston, and Philadelphia, helped fugitives assimilate into urban communities by finding them jobs.

Passage of the Fugitive Slave Bill of 1850 made it more difficult for runaways to live in the North. Many continued on to Canada or sought passage to the Caribbean. Routes through the Appalachian Mountains and along the Mississippi River were best known and most often used, although Underground Railroad routes in 1860 extended as far west as Iowa and as far east as Maine. Heroes of the Underground Railroad include Levi Coffin, an Indiana Quaker who aided more than 3,000 slaves; Henry David Thoreau, [Page 1408]who wrote about his assistance to fugitives in New England; Thomas Garrett, a Delaware Quaker, and William Still, a free black, who together escorted thousands to Philadelphia via Maryland's eastern shore; and Harriet Tubman, who single-handedly made 19 trips into the South to bring more than 300 slaves to freedom.

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