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To properly understand how the underground railway worked, we first have to know what
caused it, and that is, slavery.
Slavery's history spans many cultures, nationalities, and religions from ancient times and, unfortunately,
today.
From all the enslavement periods throughout our history, one is the most noticeable: the
two hundred forty six years of slavery in the USA.
The starting point of slavery in America was in sixteen nineteen, when twenty enslaved
Africans were brought to the British colony of Virginia.
Over the next decades, hundreds of thousands of people were sold or kidnapped from Africa
and shipped to Thirteen Colonies, then forced into slavery.
After the American Revolutionary War, some northern states abolished slavery, while the
southern states had an economy built on it, because the south had a perfect climate and
available land to grow crops like rice, sugar cane, tobacco, and cotton.
Until eighteen fifty, the balance was kept between the free states and the slave states.
But, after the half of the nineteenth century, the situation tilted the balance in the favor
of the Union, because these five free states joined the US.
But, for the purpose of this video, we are going to look at what an enslaved African
American's life was like in the year of eighteen fifty, when the balance was still maintained.
Back then, he didn't have many choices in life.
He could remain on his owner's plantation, work six days a week from sunrise to sunset,
regarding himself to a life of harsh and painful labor, barbaric physical punishment, and possibly
a broken family as he watched his loved ones be sold away.
Not all enslaved people had the same life, but this was what he might expect if he remained
in bondage.
Or he could try and run away, but escaping was anything but easy.
So, due to hard labor and punishments, an enslaved individual decides to leave.
The closer he is to the border between the free states and the slave states, the easier
it is.
This is why from the estimated a hundred thousand people who escaped through The Underground
Railroad many of them were from the border states because the journey was much shorter
and safer and thought once they arrived north, they were free.
On the other hand, African Americans from the south had way longer journeys until the
north and probably many of them did not know free states existed.
As an enslaved individual, knowing how to read or write was a crime, so without any
maps, not knowing where to head, escaping alone was very difficult.
This being said, this is where the underground railroad comes into the story.
As its name says, this route was made of many underground ghost train stations that led
to the far north, even Canada, or it least this is what the myth says.
In reality, it was neither underground nor a railroad, but a secret network, who was
not run by a single organization or a person.
It was run by both white and black people, who tried rescuing individuals to far north.
This system had a well-defined structure and certain people had certain roles, whose names
were coded so masters and owners of enslaved people wouldn't be aware of this secret route.
It is believed that the underground railroad was created shortly before the beginning of
the nineteenth century by abolitionists many of which lived in Pennsylvania.
Many abolitionists or people who were enslaved but escaped on their own joined the network.
One of the most important roles in this system was "the agent", who was a person that went
to plantations to try and help the enslaved ones escape by telling them to meet at a certain
time near the plantation with a "conductor", who was a guide.
Here, the first issue comes into the equation.
What if no "agent" came?
In this case, they had to escape on their own, but remember that they didn't have any
maps and most of them were illiterate, so without some outside help this was very unlikely.
But, at least, they had...songs, as they were transmitted from generation to generation
and contained hints that helped the escapees go north, so they were something like "musical"
maps.
Lyrics from "Follow the Drinking Gourd" are a guide for people who wanted to escape and
even the title means; "Follow the North Star".So, if the enslaved is alone, that's kind of the
only thing that helps him.
He had to leave at night and travel until the sunrise, rest in the day,and then again,
when night came, follow the north star, and moss on trees to go north and hope for the
best.
Although going alone was not the best option, if one wanted to escape from bondage, he had
to go on his own or wait for "an agent" to come, but he didn't know if somebody would
ever try and rescue him.
And if somebody came, how could the enslaved individual know if the supposed agent was
trustworthy?
Alright, now let's imagine that a true agent came, now, what next?
Generally, agents usually pretended to be enslaved to enter plantations and tell the
others the date when they would have to escape.
The perfect time would have been on a clear night on Saturday because masters would have
to wait until Monday morning to place an announcement in the newspaper that one escaped.
The best season to try and escape was late fall or early winter, because the longer the
nights, the more ground the escapees could cover.
Groups couldn't be too big because they could get spotted easier.
After the meeting point and time were set, they had to wait, act normally and when the
night came, leave.
At the meeting point, they would find the conductor, where they will change their clothes
because back then a group of African American people with dirty clothes would look very
suspicious.
Then, the guide would lead them through the night until the first "station", which was
10-20 miles away.
In case you didn't realize yet, each of the roles involved in this system had coded names
that would have normally been used in a railroad system.
The "cargo", or the escapees will wait at a "station", which is owned by a "station
master", who is the owner of the safe house until the next "conductor" will come to move
the cargo further north.
To reduce the risk of infiltration, many people associated with the Underground Railroad knew
only their part of the operation and not of the whole scheme.
This process was repeated many times until the escapees finally arrived in the free states,
where they could enjoy the freedom and never get enslaved again...
Oh, wait, what's that?
It's the year eighteen fifty and the second fugitive Slave Act passed?
This basically encouraged capturing escapees and sending them back to the south.
The penalties were harsher for the people who hid fugitives, but it also created controversy.
A free African American black man in the north could be considered an escapee, therefore
he could get enslaved and get sent to the south.
A fugitive slave act was previously passed in seventeen ninety-three, but this second
one made many escapees go even more north, to Canada, or how it was called by enslaved
individuals in the south, "heaven" or "the promised land".
There they could avoid U.S. jurisdiction and slavery wasn't a thing there, although racism
still existed.
Black people who were once enslaved formed communities and men had the right to vote
and right to own property.
All black persons could earn a living, get married, and start a family.
With assistance from Canada’s government and abolitionist societies in Canada and the
United States, building a new life was possible.
But, for some, this wasn't enough.
They wanted to help.
Some became "conductors" and went back to the south to try and free their friends and
relatives.
One of the most courageous and famous people during these times was Harriet Tubman.
Between 1850 and 1860, Tubman made 19 trips from the North to the South following the
Underground Railroad and set free hundreds of enslaved people.
Slavery was one of the primary causes of the American Civil War, and both the victory
of the Union and the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment in 1865 ended slavery in the United
States forever, and with it, the Underground Railroad, became... history...