The United States has a long history of using African slaves to cheap labour. The slaves worked on plantations under very bad circumstances, their lives were miserable. Many times, slaves tried to riot or escape from the plantations. The Underground Railroad is the name of an escape route that many African slaves used in the 19th hundreds. Harriet Tubman was born into slavery but used this route to gain freedom. Later she went back to help other runaways, she became an important person for the slaves history.
The Underground Railroad was a secret slavery escape route formed in the early 19th hundreds. Slaves walked long distances, mostly at night time to reach for freedom. Canada was a popular destination, but the slaves also went to northern states without slavery in their own country. Nicknames connecting to an underground were given around the route to help hiding it from the plantation owners. The route included several “stations” with 15-30 km between each other. …show more content…
In December 1954, Thomas Garrett helped arrange and send away eight people, including Harriet Tubman to help slaves escape by The Underground Railroad. He wrote a letter including his thoughts around Harriet Tubman. In Garrett’s eyes, Harriet Tubman’s success was wonderful. She was called “Moses” because of the way she helped the slaves escape. Harriet Tubman took daily risks, but still she seemed fearless. Under her leadership, speaking of thoughts about giving out and going back was not accepted. She even threatened the slaves with death. In her opinion, a dead slave would do less harm than a live one. At all times she carried a revolver in her hands in case they would come in to a situation like this. She was not afraid to use it. Still, she watched over her followers with regard and never left anyone behind. Harriet was always the supreme leader and her followers trusted her