The Underground Railroad In America
The book consisted mostly of firsthand accounts of slaves escaping to freedom. These accounts were organized by state. In addition to the firsthand accounts, the author also wrote various types of information in the beginning of each section. Some of these were things such as what the feelings were towards slaves in that state, general information about the Underground Railroad in that state, and well-known abolitionists from that state or region. The book contained many narratives of slaves escaping north. Some of the most popular narratives were John Brown, Eliza Harris, Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, and Solomon Northup. In addition to the narratives of escaped slaves, the book also had information about Underground Railroad routes,
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conductors, and stations. The book often talked about where the Underground Railroad routes would generally run through in each state and common places the routes would lead to. Along with having narratives of escaped slaves, the book also had some narratives from railroad conductors and station masters. There weren’t as many of these narratives because many of the Underground Railroad members didn’t write down who they had assisted or what their role was on the Underground Railroad, in fear that if they were caught having these documents they could be imprisoned or even killed. Overall, the book mostly focused on slave’s narratives of their escape, but also included other information about the Underground Railroad.
General Reaction
While reading the first half of the book, I thought the book was informative and that reading firsthand stories of slaves was very interesting. At first I was surprised about how many stories there were of slaves. I previously thought that there wouldn’t be many real stories from slaves because the slaves would have been too afraid that sharing their story could get them caught. Reading all of the stories of how desperate slaves were to escape slavery helped give me a good idea of how awful slavery really was. Slaves were willing to risk their life and leave their family in order to escape to freedom. One woman even killed her own daughter so that she wouldn’t have to live her life as a slave. This goes to show the audacity of slaves, just in hopes of escaping slavery. I really enjoyed reading stories from a slave’s perspective. There were multiple slave narratives that made me feel as if I were actually escaping slavery. Although we had learned about slavery in class, we didn’t go into much detail about the Underground Railroad in particular. Many of the things I read in the book were shocking. For example, some slaves made their escape not knowing anything other than to follow the North Star, while others had immense help from members of the Underground Railroad.
Toward the second half of the book, it seemed as if there were less narratives of slaves and more of the author’s words. I found the author to be much less interesting than the narratives of slaves escapes. Although I was impressed by how many details the author included in the book, they sometimes seemed excessive, making it difficult to read certain sections. Multiple times the author talked about locations such as counties, cities, or streets in which the Underground Railroad existed. While these details may be useful to someone studying the Underground Railroad, I found these sections very uninteresting because I didn’t know where any of those locations were. Having a map included in these sections would have been very helpful because it would have allowed me to understand where the author was talking about relative to the country or state. In general, I didn’t like the second half of the book very much. Without the firsthand accounts of slaves escaping slavery, I lost interest in the book. Although the author researched the topic very well and it was obvious that he knew what he was talking about, I didn’t really like the author’s style of writing and found many of the details he included excessive and mundane.
Instead of using chapters, the author sectioned the book by state. I thought this was a good idea because it would be too difficult to write the stories chronologically. With the narratives organized by state, the author usually wrote a summary at the beginning of each section on what the attitude towards slavery was, popular Underground Railroad members, or problems for fugitive slaves in that state. Many of these summaries were interesting and had facts I had never learned before. While reading one I was surprised to read, “Even with the Underground Railroad, bigotry was a problem. Fugitives were frequently banned from entering the homes of conductors, or were forced to eat in a designated area” (page 205). Another thing I liked about the book being separated by state was that I could compare states as I read throughout the book. For example, many slaves in the “deep south” were known for harsh slave treatment and fewer escaped slavery than slaves in the upper south. The last few sections of the book were dedicated to the free Midwest, Middle Atlantic, New England, and Canada. I really enjoyed these sections because after reading almost a whole book about how harshly slaves were treated in the south and how they escaped, I finally got to read about the northern states. The book talked about what it was like for northerners to be a part of the Underground Railroad as well as main routes and conductors in that region.
American History Reading this book gave me a whole new perspective on slavery. Learning about slavery in general is completely different from reading the narratives of real people who escaped slavery. These narratives taught me how harsh the treatment was towards slaves as well as their daily life as a slave. Another big theme of the narratives, as well as the whole book in general, was how slaves escaped slavery using the Underground Railroad. Many of the slaves that escaped were more knowledgeable or physically fit than other slaves. The night of their escape, slaves would get as much food and clothing as they could, sometimes “borrowing” their master’s horse. Then they would travel as far as they could until daylight. Some slaves had long journeys through difficult terrain, while others had a much easier and shorter journey before reaching a station on the Underground Railroad. A few other methods of slaves gaining their freedom were disguising themselves as whites, having a captain secretly stow them on his boat, ship themselves in a box, or sue their master for their freedom if they were ever brought to a northern state. In general, slaves tried almost everything they could think of to escape slavery, although many were successful, there were many who were not.
In addition to learning about how slaves were treated and their escapes, I also learned a lot about the Underground Railroad.
For example, many slaves first stop on the Underground Railroad was a meeting with the Vigilance Committee in that area. Slaves would tell these committees information about themselves and their escape so that the committee could make sure they weren’t an imposter trying to expose the Underground Railroad operations. I had always assumed that all African-Americans were on the same side-against slavery, but learned that slaves weren’t supposed to trust anyone in new cities. Some African-Americans in free states would report fugitive slaves to slave catchers for the reward. The Underground Railroad was very careful to avoid detection; members had the system mastered with signals and code words. Station masters of the railroad often housed slaves in secret rooms of their house so that they were extremely unnoticeable. Levi Coffin, whose home is often referred to as “The Grand Central Station of the Underground Railroad” said the following in his narrative, “Our house was large and well adapted for secreting fugitives. Very often slaves would lie concealed in upper chambers for weeks without the boarders or frequent visitors at the house knowing anything about it” (page 186). The book also talked about how there were whole communities that were opposed to slavery. These communities openly accepted fugitive slaves, some even had signs telling fugitive slaves they were safe and welcome there. Slave catchers had a difficult time capturing slaves in these communities because none of the slaves would give up the location where the slaves were
hidden.
Recommendation I would recommend this book to readers who have an interest in the Underground Railroad. I really enjoyed reading the narratives of slaves escaping. In my opinion, one of the best parts about the book was reading about less well-known slaves. I have heard a lot about famous abolitionists such as Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, and John Brown, all of which the book covered, but there were many new slaves I had never heard about before, an example being Harrison Cary. Another great part about reading narratives from slaves was reading exactly how they felt about slavery. Charles Peyton Lucas, a fugitive slave, said, “...I feel that there is no curse on God’s earth, equal to slavery” (page 117). Many other fugitive slaves throughout the book said that they would rather die than to go back to being a slave. One narrative that included this was Margaret Garner’s. “Margaret Garner, seeing that their hopes of freedom were in vain seized a butcher knife that lay on the table, and with one strike cut the throat of her little daughter, whom she probably loved the best. She then attempted to take the life of the other children and to kill herself, but she was soon overpowered and hampered before she could complete her desperate work” (page 196).
This book would be best suited for readers who have a strong interest in the Underground Railroad. There were multiple times in the book when I thought the author seemed to write excessive and uninteresting details, but I think that these parts may be more intriguing to readers with a strong interest in the Underground Railroad. For those who have a slight interest in the Underground Railroad, I would still recommend reading this book. I think that the escape stories of slaves make the whole book worth reading.
conductors, and stations. The book often talked about where the Underground Railroad routes would generally run through in each state and common places the routes would lead to. Along with having narratives of escaped slaves, the book also had some narratives from railroad conductors and station masters. There weren’t as many of these narratives because many of the Underground Railroad members didn’t write down who they had assisted or what their role was on the Underground Railroad, in fear that if they were caught having these documents they could be imprisoned or even killed. Overall, the book mostly focused on slave’s narratives of their escape, but also included other information about the Underground Railroad.
General Reaction
While reading the first half of the book, I thought the book was informative and that reading firsthand stories of slaves was very interesting. At first I was surprised about how many stories there were of slaves. I previously thought that there wouldn’t be many real stories from slaves because the slaves would have been too afraid that sharing their story could get them caught. Reading all of the stories of how desperate slaves were to escape slavery helped give me a good idea of how awful slavery really was. Slaves were willing to risk their life and leave their family in order to escape to freedom. One woman even killed her own daughter so that she wouldn’t have to live her life as a slave. This goes to show the audacity of slaves, just in hopes of escaping slavery. I really enjoyed reading stories from a slave’s perspective. There were multiple slave narratives that made me feel as if I were actually escaping slavery. Although we had learned about slavery in class, we didn’t go into much detail about the Underground Railroad in particular. Many of the things I read in the book were shocking. For example, some slaves made their escape not knowing anything other than to follow the North Star, while others had immense help from members of the Underground Railroad.
Toward the second half of the book, it seemed as if there were less narratives of slaves and more of the author’s words. I found the author to be much less interesting than the narratives of slaves escapes. Although I was impressed by how many details the author included in the book, they sometimes seemed excessive, making it difficult to read certain sections. Multiple times the author talked about locations such as counties, cities, or streets in which the Underground Railroad existed. While these details may be useful to someone studying the Underground Railroad, I found these sections very uninteresting because I didn’t know where any of those locations were. Having a map included in these sections would have been very helpful because it would have allowed me to understand where the author was talking about relative to the country or state. In general, I didn’t like the second half of the book very much. Without the firsthand accounts of slaves escaping slavery, I lost interest in the book. Although the author researched the topic very well and it was obvious that he knew what he was talking about, I didn’t really like the author’s style of writing and found many of the details he included excessive and mundane.
Instead of using chapters, the author sectioned the book by state. I thought this was a good idea because it would be too difficult to write the stories chronologically. With the narratives organized by state, the author usually wrote a summary at the beginning of each section on what the attitude towards slavery was, popular Underground Railroad members, or problems for fugitive slaves in that state. Many of these summaries were interesting and had facts I had never learned before. While reading one I was surprised to read, “Even with the Underground Railroad, bigotry was a problem. Fugitives were frequently banned from entering the homes of conductors, or were forced to eat in a designated area” (page 205). Another thing I liked about the book being separated by state was that I could compare states as I read throughout the book. For example, many slaves in the “deep south” were known for harsh slave treatment and fewer escaped slavery than slaves in the upper south. The last few sections of the book were dedicated to the free Midwest, Middle Atlantic, New England, and Canada. I really enjoyed these sections because after reading almost a whole book about how harshly slaves were treated in the south and how they escaped, I finally got to read about the northern states. The book talked about what it was like for northerners to be a part of the Underground Railroad as well as main routes and conductors in that region.
American History Reading this book gave me a whole new perspective on slavery. Learning about slavery in general is completely different from reading the narratives of real people who escaped slavery. These narratives taught me how harsh the treatment was towards slaves as well as their daily life as a slave. Another big theme of the narratives, as well as the whole book in general, was how slaves escaped slavery using the Underground Railroad. Many of the slaves that escaped were more knowledgeable or physically fit than other slaves. The night of their escape, slaves would get as much food and clothing as they could, sometimes “borrowing” their master’s horse. Then they would travel as far as they could until daylight. Some slaves had long journeys through difficult terrain, while others had a much easier and shorter journey before reaching a station on the Underground Railroad. A few other methods of slaves gaining their freedom were disguising themselves as whites, having a captain secretly stow them on his boat, ship themselves in a box, or sue their master for their freedom if they were ever brought to a northern state. In general, slaves tried almost everything they could think of to escape slavery, although many were successful, there were many who were not.
In addition to learning about how slaves were treated and their escapes, I also learned a lot about the Underground Railroad.
For example, many slaves first stop on the Underground Railroad was a meeting with the Vigilance Committee in that area. Slaves would tell these committees information about themselves and their escape so that the committee could make sure they weren’t an imposter trying to expose the Underground Railroad operations. I had always assumed that all African-Americans were on the same side-against slavery, but learned that slaves weren’t supposed to trust anyone in new cities. Some African-Americans in free states would report fugitive slaves to slave catchers for the reward. The Underground Railroad was very careful to avoid detection; members had the system mastered with signals and code words. Station masters of the railroad often housed slaves in secret rooms of their house so that they were extremely unnoticeable. Levi Coffin, whose home is often referred to as “The Grand Central Station of the Underground Railroad” said the following in his narrative, “Our house was large and well adapted for secreting fugitives. Very often slaves would lie concealed in upper chambers for weeks without the boarders or frequent visitors at the house knowing anything about it” (page 186). The book also talked about how there were whole communities that were opposed to slavery. These communities openly accepted fugitive slaves, some even had signs telling fugitive slaves they were safe and welcome there. Slave catchers had a difficult time capturing slaves in these communities because none of the slaves would give up the location where the slaves were
hidden.
Recommendation I would recommend this book to readers who have an interest in the Underground Railroad. I really enjoyed reading the narratives of slaves escaping. In my opinion, one of the best parts about the book was reading about less well-known slaves. I have heard a lot about famous abolitionists such as Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, and John Brown, all of which the book covered, but there were many new slaves I had never heard about before, an example being Harrison Cary. Another great part about reading narratives from slaves was reading exactly how they felt about slavery. Charles Peyton Lucas, a fugitive slave, said, “...I feel that there is no curse on God’s earth, equal to slavery” (page 117). Many other fugitive slaves throughout the book said that they would rather die than to go back to being a slave. One narrative that included this was Margaret Garner’s. “Margaret Garner, seeing that their hopes of freedom were in vain seized a butcher knife that lay on the table, and with one strike cut the throat of her little daughter, whom she probably loved the best. She then attempted to take the life of the other children and to kill herself, but she was soon overpowered and hampered before she could complete her desperate work” (page 196).
This book would be best suited for readers who have a strong interest in the Underground Railroad. There were multiple times in the book when I thought the author seemed to write excessive and uninteresting details, but I think that these parts may be more intriguing to readers with a strong interest in the Underground Railroad. For those who have a slight interest in the Underground Railroad, I would still recommend reading this book. I think that the escape stories of slaves make the whole book worth reading.