The Information Behind The Underground Railroad

We may perceive the underground railroad being underground and being a railroad. Well, the intriguing information behind the underground railroad tells a different story. It was a loose network of assistance for the slaves to help them escape from a life of enslavement. The Underground Railroad ran from around 1810 to the 1860s. It was at its peak right before the Civil War in the 1850s. During this time, many brave men and women helped free the slaves. Groups of people often escaped in small groups or alone. Most slaves traveled at night to use darkness as a shield, so that they will not be easily spotted and re-captured. Some of the slaves were held in rooms which could only hold 20 of them.
It was established in approximately 1780. The Underground Railroad used railroad
terms in its organization. People who led the slaves along the route were called conductors. Hideouts and homes where slaves hid along the way were called stations or depots. Even people who helped by giving money and food were sometimes called stockholders. Many people from various backgrounds worked as conductors and provided safe places for the slaves to stay along the route.
Some of the conductors were former slaves such as Harriet Tubman who escaped using the Underground Railroad and then returned to help more slaves escape. Many white people who felt that slavery was wrong also helped, including Quakers from the north. They often provided hideouts in their homes as well as food and other supplies. Since the slaves escaped and lived in secrecy, no one is quite sure how many escaped. There are estimates that say over 100,000 slaves escaped over the history of the railroad, including 30,000 that escaped during the peak years before the Civil War. In 1850 the Fugitive Slave Act was passed in the United States. This made it a law that runaway slaves found in free states had to be returned to their owners in the south. This made it even more difficult for the Underground Railroad. Now slaves needed to be transported all the way to Canada in order to be safe from being captured again. Abolitionists were people who thought slavery should be made illegal and all current slaves should be set free. The abolitionist movement started with the Quakers
in the 17th century who felt that slavery was un-Christian. The state of Pennsylvania was the first state to abolish slavery in 1780. The critical need for the Underground Railroad ended when slavery was abolished. However, when slavery was abolished the Underground Railroad operated in reverse, as fugitives returned to live in the United States. Many escaped slaves returned to United States from Canada where they had lived in free communities in Ontario and Nova Scotia mostly. Although a wide majority of escaped slaves chose to reside in Canadian territory, their experiences were not very good in Canada. The country had banned slavery but racial discrimination was still very common in the society.