Underground Railroad
Photo: Jc8025, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
- This article describes historical escape routes for American slaves. See Public transportation for underground rail systems in the literal sense.
The Underground Railroad is a network of disparate historical routes used by African-American slaves to escape the United States and slavery by reaching freedom in Canada or other foreign territories. Today many of the stations along the "railroads" serve as museums and memorials to the former slaves' journey north.
UnderstandFrom its birth as an independent nation in 1776 until the outbreak of Civil War over the issue in 1861, the United States was a nation where the institution of slavery caused bitter divisions.
PrepareWhile there are various routes and substantial variation in distance, the exodus following the path of Harriet Tubman covers more than from Maryland and Delaware through Pennsylvania and New York to Ontario, Canada.
Get inThe most common points of entry to the Underground Railroad network were border states which represented the division between free and slave: Maryland; Virginia, including what's now West Virginia; and Kentucky.C..
GoThere are multiple routes and multiple points of departure for this itinerary; those listed here are merely notable examples.
Stay safeWith the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act by Congress in 1850, slaves who had escaped to the northern states were in immediate danger of being forcibly abducted and brought back to southern slavery.
Go nextOnly a small minority of successful escapees stayed in Canada for the long haul. Despite the fact that slavery was illegal there, racism and nativism were as much a problem as anywhere else.
See also
Sources and licences
- Guide text adapted from the Wikivoyage article "Underground Railroad" by its contributors, available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Read on Wikivoyage · Contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Photo: Jc8025, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons