Underground Railroad (UGRR): the network of people and places
who assisted fugitive slaves escape from slavery in the South.
Slide 4
Terminology Conductors: People who guided slaves from place to
place. Safe House or Stations: locations where slaves would safely
find protection, food, or a place to sleep
Slide 5
Terminology Station Masters: People who hid fugitive slaves in
their homes, barns, or churches Cargo: Slaves who were in the
safekeeping of a conductor or station master
Slide 6
Underground Railroad activity did not literally take place
underground or via a railroad, nor was it an official organization
with defined structure. It was a loose network of people who
attempted to move enslaved individuals escaping from slavery to and
from safe places in a quick and largely secretive manner.
Slide 7
Most widespread during the three decades prior to the Civil
War, this activity primarily took place in the regions bordering
slave states, with the Ohio River being the center of much of the
activity.
Slide 8
The actual routes of the Underground Railroad were determined
chiefly by three factors: Geographical location Availability of
workers, and Political climate in North America.
Slide 9
Geographical Location The first factor was geographical
location: a border state en route to Canada. Generally above the
Ohio River in the Midwest, along the state line of Pennsylvania in
the East, and stretching into Canada.
Slide 10
Underground Railroad Routes
Slide 11
Slide 12
Availability of Workers: Abolitionists and Conductors
Conductors: free individuals who helped fugitive slaves traveling
along the Underground Railroad. Conductors helped runaway slaves by
providing them with safe passage to and from stations. They did
this under the cover of darkness with slave catchers hot on their
heels. Stations were often located within their own homes and
businesses.
Slide 13
Diverse groups of people Conductors Risked their lives Diverse
groups of people Former slaves who had escaped through the
underground railroad Different income levels Different Occupations
Different Races If caught, they could be fined, imprisoned,
branded, or hanged Served as guides
Slide 14
Quakers and UGRR Abolitionists and members of various religious
groups, participated in the Underground Railroad. The Quakers
played the biggest role
Slide 15
Political Climate: Dangerous Path To Freedom Traveling along
the Underground Railroad: a long a perilous journey Often on foot,
in a short amount of time. little or no food /no protection reward
posters offering payment for the capture of slaves If captured -
flogged, branded, jailed, sold back into slavery, or even
killed.
Slide 16
Slide 17
Slide 18
Code Words Code words were used to help slaves find their way
North. The Big Dipper/handle pointed toward the North Star =
"drinking gourd." The Ohio River = the River Jordan. Canada =
"Promised Land"
"By Tuesday you shall receive a shipment of four large kegs of
dark ale and one small one." was a message that four adults and one
child would be arriving at the station. There were signs. A quilt
hanging on a clothesline with a house and a smoking chimney among
its designs indicated a safe house. There were signals. Each house
had its own combination of knocks. For example, (three knocks),
"Whos there?" "A friend with friends."
Slide 21
Quilts As Codes It is believed that quilts were also used as a
communication tool for the Underground Railroad.
Slide 22
Monkey Wrench This meant the slaves were to gather all the
tools they might need on the journey to freedom. to build shelters
compasses weapons
Slide 23
Crossroads Travel to the crossroads = Cleveland, Ohio. Any
quilt hung before this one would have given directions to
Ohio.
Slide 24
Flying Geese Told the slaves to follow migrating geese north
towards Canada and to Freedom. Used for directions as well as the
best season for slaves to escape.
Slide 25
Log Cabin Where safe houses were. People identified themselves
as friends to slaves by tracing this pattern in dirt as a signal.
Told slaves to look for this symbol on their journey to
freedom.
Slide 26
Songs
Slide 27
Follow the Drinking Gourd
Slide 28
Disquises Successful disguise - inconspicuous clothes of the
Quakers: a light gray dress and a bonnet with a heavy veil. Or just
the opposite rich looking clothes. Slave catchers would be looking
for fugitives in rags.
Slide 29
Hiding Places False walls were built into attics. Secret
chambers / "liberty rooms - included as floor plans. fake closets
Trapdoors hidden tunnels church belfries empty schoolhouses. The
woodpile outside might have a room in its center The bank of coal
might be hollow. One fugitive lived in a haystack for six weeks
Even funeral processions served as hiding places, with fugitives
placed in the coffins.
Slide 30
Slide 31
Fugitive Slave Acts It is important to realize that while
conductors and fugitive slaves were participating on the
Underground Railroad, all of their actions were illegal. The
federal government had passed Fugitive Slave Acts as early as 1793
that allowed slave catchers to come north and force runaways back
into slavery. By the 1830s and 1840s, these laws were expanded in
reaction to increased Underground Railroad activity.
Slide 32
With the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, assisting
or helping hide fugitive slaves became a federal offense, making
all Underground Railroad activity subject to six months in prison
and a $1,000 fine. Escaping from slavery or helping someone to
escape from slavery was a very difficult and dangerous task.
Slide 33
Journey to Freedom During these 30 years, it has been reported
that over 100,000 slaves made the journey via the Underground
Railroad to Freedom.
Slide 34
Perhaps no song is more closely associated with the Underground
Railroad than this one. To follow the North Star was the message
embedded in this spiritual; instructions are included in the song
to follow the points of the drinking gourd (the Big Dipper) to the
brightest star, which is the North Star.
Slide 35
The first verse instructs slaves to leave in the winterWhen the
sun comes back refers to winter and spring when the altitude of the
sun at noon is higher each day. Quail, a migratory bird, spends the
winter in the South. The drinking gourd refers to the Big Dipper,
the old man means Peg Leg Joe, and the great big river refers to
the Ohio River.
Slide 36
The second verse told slaves to follow the bank of the
Tombigbee River north. They were to look for dead trees marked with
the drawings of a left foot and a round mark, denoting a peg leg.
In the third verse, the hidden message instructed the slaves to
continue north over the hills when they reached the Tombigbees
headwaters. From there, they were to travel along another riverthe
Tennessee. There were several Underground Railroad routes that met
up on the Tennessee.
Slide 37
Slaves were told that the Tennessee joined another river in the
songs last verse. Once they crossed that river, a guide would meet
them on the north bank and guide them on the rest of their journey
to freedom.
![Webquest Underground Railroad[1]](https://img.pdfslide.net/doc/110x75/5564bd23d8b42a7e178b4e58/webquest-underground-railroad1.jpg)
