The Underground Railroad

Fugitive slaves were reported in the American colonies as early as the 1640s, and escapes escalated with the growth of slavery over the next two hundred years. As the number of fugitives rose, the Southern states pressed for harsher legislation that they thought would prevent escapes. The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 criminalized any assistance, active or passive, to a runaway slave--yet it only encouraged the behavior it sought to prevent. Friends of the fugitive, whose previous assistance to runaways had been somewhat haphazard, increased their efforts at organization. By the onset of the Civil War in 1861, the Underground Railroad included members, defined stops, set escape routes and a code language. From the abolitionist movement to the Zionville Baptist Missionary Church, this encyclopedia focuses on the people, ideas, events and places associated with the interrelated histories of fugitive slaves, the African American struggle for equality and the American antislavery movement. Information is drawn from primary sources such as public records, document collections, slave autobiographies and antebellum newspapers. Entries contain pointers to related entries and suggestions for further research. Appendices include information such as a geographical listing of selected friends of the fugitive, noted Underground Railroad sites administered by the National Parks Service, a bibliography of slave autobiographies and selected Underground Railroad songs. A chronology of slavery and the Underground Railroad is also included.

The culmination of years of research in dozens of archives and libraries, this fascinating encyclopedia provides an unprecedented look at the network known as the Underground Railroad - that mysterious "system" of individuals and organizations that helped slaves escape the American South to freedom during the years before the Civil War. In operation as early as the 1500s and reaching its peak with the abolitionist movement of the antebellum period, the Underground Railroad saved countless lives and helped alter the course of American history. This is the most complete reference on the Underground Railroad ever published. It includes full coverage of the Railroad in both the United States and Canada, which was the ultimate destination of many of the escaping slaves. "The Underground Railroad: An Encyclopedia of People, Places, and Operations" explores the people, places, writings, laws, and organizations that made this network possible. More than 1,500 entries detail the families and personalities involved in the operation, and sidebars extract primary source materials for longer entries. This encyclopedia features extensive supporting materials, including maps with actual Underground Railroad escape routes, photos, a chronology, genealogies of those involved in the operation, a listing of Underground Railroad operatives by state or Canadian province, a "passenger" list of escaping slaves, and primary and secondary source bibliographies.

William Still (1821–1902) was an African-American abolitionist, businessman, writer, historian, civil rights activist. He was also a conductor on the Underground Railroad, a network of secret routes and safe houses created in the United States during the early to the mid-19th century for use by African American slaves in order to escape into free states or Canada. In 1872, he published “The Underground Railroad”, an account of the underground system and the experiences of 649 slaves who escaped to freedom. An incredible collection of real-life stories that provide a unique insight into the adversity faced by pre-emancipation African-Americans. Contents include: “Seth Concklin”, “Underground Rail Road Letters”, “William Peel, alias William Box Peel Jones”, “Wesley Harris, alias Robert Jackson, and the Matterson Brothers”, “Death of Romulus Hall—New Name George Weems”, “James Mercer, Wm. H. Gilliam, and John Clayton”, “Clarissa Davis”, “Anthony Blow, alias Henry Levison”, “Perry Johnson, of Elkton, Maryland”, “Isaac Forman, William Davis, and Willis Redick”, etc. Read & Co. History is proudly republishing this classic book in a brand new edition complete with an introductory biography by William Wells Brown.

Ohio was at the heart of it all. During a dark time in United States history, thousands of freedom seekers traveled the Underground Railroad through Ohio. The Buckeye State hosted about half of all fugitive slave traffic of the antebellum era. A mix of Northern and Southern settlers in the state added drama to a struggle that led to major benefits for the state and the country. Unfortunately, this epic past was obscured by silence and secrecy and then distorted with misinformation and folklore--until now. Author and native Ohioan Kathy Schulz accurately details the development and workings of Ohio's Underground Railroad with true stories of Addison White, John Parker and others.

How do we know about the American slaves who escaped using what is known as the Underground Railroad, and about the people that organized it? What were they escaping from, and what happened to them? This book shows how we know about the fugitives and their experiences from primary and other sources. It includes information on some historical detective work that has taken place, using documentary and archaeological evidence, that has enabled historians to piece together the fascinating story of the Underground Railroad.

The Stills were the prototypical African American family who lived, worked, and sometimes prospered before, during, and after the Civil War. History is replete with the selfless contributions of these black individuals. Beginning in the waning decades of the 18th century on Maryland's Eastern Shore, a slave named Levin Steel confronted his slave master with a demand his owner could not ignore-his urge to be a free man. He bought himself, settled in the Pines of Burlington County, New Jersey, in 1806, and was soon joined there by his self-emancipated wife, Charity. The dynasty these hardworking former slaves began in 1807 produced a bevy of freeborn children, who were the ancestors of our central character, William Still. Although it was William who ran station two, the hub of the American Underground Railroad in Philadelphia, beginning in the 1840s, his siblings accomplished a staggering list of professional, entrepreneurial, social welfare, and legal activities while the mass of American slaves lay in chains in the South. After the Civil War, when emancipation came to the slaves, William Still, a successful coal merchant, used his own money to finance a host of civil rights and other social reforms to elevate the freed men arriving in the city.

The Underground Railroad was the massive effort by slaves and free people to secretly bring thousands of blacks to freedom in the North during the 19th century. This thought-provoking book will capture readers’ imaginations and fill them with awe for the brave “conductors” and “passengers” on the Railroad. They’ll learn about the many safe havens, called “depots,” that housed fugitives and the secret passages within them that hid slaves from their pursuers. Information about the American Civil War and the Fugitive Slave Act, biographies of figures vital to the Underground Railroad, and stunning photographs and artwork are included in this important work about a terrible time in American history.

A Study Guide for Colson Whitehead's "The Underground Railroad", excerpted from Gale's acclaimed Novels for Students.This concise study guide includes plot summary; character analysis; author biography; study questions; historical context; suggestions for further reading; and much more. For any literature project, trust Novels for Students for all of your research needs.

In the decades before the Civil War effectively ended the institution of slavery in the United States, many people risked their lives to rescue Southern African Americans from the shackles of slavery and shepherd them to the safety of the Northern states and Canada. Thousands of slaves made the journey under cover of night. Once free, some became agents of the railroad while others educated those in the North about the horrors of slavery. The remarkable stories of people who would achieve freedom or die trying are chronicled within these pages.

The Underground Railroad remains one of America's most ennobling true stories, and the people of Ohio played their part in this heroic endeavor. Suffering a crisis of conscience, Presbyterian minister James Gilliland left his South Carolina home for Red Oak, where he became one of the state's earliest and strongest abolitionists. Peru Township's Richard Dillingham died helping the enslaved escape bondage. In Alum Creek, three generations of the Benedict family risked life and limb doing the same. Quakers Jane and Valentine Nicholson of Clinton County carted many a fugitive to freedom, as did Wilmington Quaker Abraham Allen with his trusty Liberator wagon. Drawing on decades of research, author Tom Calarco uncovers the real tales of our nation's quest for freedom and equality for all.

This carefully crafted ebook: "THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD (With Illustrations)” is formatted for your eReader with a functional and detailed table of contents. This book chronicles the stories of some 649 slaves who escaped to freedom via the Underground Railroad, a secret network formed by abolitionists and former slaves who helped them escape to the North. This book's original aim was to reunite those slaves with their families. But now it has turned into an important historical document that visiblises the existence of those who suffered inhuman cruelty at the hands of Southern Slave Owners and yet had the courage to break free. These unknown heroes and heroines were in true sense the founding fathers of African American Communities. This is why their stories must be heard and brought back from oblivion. A MUST READ! Excerpt: "Like millions of my race, my mother and father were born slaves, but were not contented to live and die so. My father purchased himself in early manhood by hard toil. Mother saw no way for herself and children to escape the horrors of bondage but by flight. Bravely, with her four little ones, with firm faith in God and an ardent desire to be free, she forsook the prison-house, and succeeded, through the aid of my father, to reach a free State. The old familiar slave names had to be changed…" William Still (1821–1902) was an African-American abolitionist, conductor on the Underground Railroad, writer, historian and civil rights activist. He was chairman of the Vigilance Committee of the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society and directly aided fugitive slaves by keeping records of their lives and helping families reunite after the abolishment of slavery.

During the fourteen years Sydney Howard Gay edited the American Anti-Slavery Society’s National Anti-Slavery Standard in New York City, he worked with some of the most important Underground agents in the eastern United States, including Thomas Garrett, William Still and James Miller McKim. Gay’s closest associate was Louis Napoleon, a free black man who played a major role in the James Kirk and Lemmon cases. For more than two years, Gay kept a record of the fugitives he and Napoleon aided. These never before published records are annotated in this book. Revealing how Gay was drawn into the bitter division between Frederick Douglass and William Lloyd Garrison, the work exposes the private opinions that divided abolitionists. It describes the network of black and white men and women who were vital links in the extensive Underground Railroad, conclusively confirming a daily reality.

This enlightening study employs the tools of archaeology to uncover a new historical perspective on the Underground Railroad. Unlike previous histories of the Underground Railroad, which have focused on frightened fugitive slaves and their benevolent abolitionist accomplices, Cheryl LaRoche focuses instead on free African American communities, the crucial help they provided to individuals fleeing slavery, and the terrain where those flights to freedom occurred. This study foregrounds several small, rural hamlets on the treacherous southern edge of the free North in Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio. LaRoche demonstrates how landscape features such as waterways, iron forges, and caves played a key role in the conduct and effectiveness of the Underground Railroad. Rich in oral histories, maps, memoirs, and archaeological investigations, this examination of the "geography of resistance" tells the new powerful and inspiring story of African Americans ensuring their own liberation in the midst of oppression.

The corresponding Teacher's Guide is a page-by-page supplementary resource that gives you additional activities to enhance the student's learning opportunities by using cross-curricular materials including discussion questions, reproducible vocabulary, science, geography and math activities. Each Teacher's Guide turns you into the expert-we've done all the research for you! This comprehensive resource enhances the many dramatic learning opportunities students can gain from reading this mystery by Carole Marsh. The supplementary Teacher's Guide includes: ¥ A chapter guide of additional information, trivia, historical facts, and more to help teachers be "Experts!" ¥ Activity ideas that make the book come dramatically to life for young readers! ¥ The author's additional comments and thoughts about the subject ¥ Some reproducible activities ¥ Great out-of-the-box ideas for activities.

This up-to-date compilation details the most significant stops along the Underground Railroad. • Approximately 75 A–Z entries cover the most significant stations on the Underground Railroad • Illustrations and maps help readers envision routes and strategies of railroad "conductors" • Interactive sidebars offer a firsthand glimpse into the arduous nature of Underground Railroad journeys, the decisions made, and the plans involved • Primary source letters and diary entries detail actual incidents that took place • A chronology includes important events related to the Underground Railroad from the Colonial Period to the Civil War • Suggested reading sections after each entry and a general print and nonprint bibliography act as a guide for further research