Medium: Brushed Acrylic on 16x20 Stretched Canvas
In 1787, an abolishionist and Quaker, named Issac T. Hopper, developed a network of like minded people offering transportation and safe haven to escaped slaves, aiding them on their quests to reach sancturary in the "free" northern states and Canada. This was the unofficial beginnings of, what is known today as, the "Underground Railroad".
The Underground Railroad was not actually a planned organization. There were no official members or leaders. In essence, it was a cooperation of abolitionist, free blacks and anti-slavery sympathizers working together to fulfill a moral obligation to assist fugitive slaves on there trek to freedom.
In the 1830's a slave known as Tice Davis escaped from Kentucky to Sandusky, Ohio without a trace. Legend has it that one of the slave catchers was heard sarcastically saying, "He must have gone off on an underground railroad!", thus, the name was born.
The Underground Railroad, as it is known today, began
around 1816. It Peaked and ended between 1850 and 1860.
It is estimated that within that time over 100,000 slaves escaped.
Railroad terms were used as code words. The people who helped transport slaves from point to point, providing them food, water, safe havens and money were called "conductors". The homes. stores, warehouses, root cellars and barns used to hide the fugitive slaves were called "stations". The stations were spaced about 20 to 50 miles apart. Many stations were equipped with hidden rooms, passage ways and tunnels where the fugitive slaves would hide, sleep, eat and move about.
Several white abolitionist like, Levi Coffin, Thomas Garrett and John Rankin were suspected to be conductors. These men were vocal opponents to the institution of slavery. Later, both Coffin and Garrett wrote books detailing the workings of the Underground Railroad and much of what is known about it today came from that literature. Free African-Americans such as, Frederick Douglass and William Still were also believed to be conductors. However, they could not be as vocal as their white counterparts. Both being free black men existing in a society that, in some part, upheld black slavery, any statements connecting them to the Underground Railroad would have jeopardize their safety and brought possible destruction to the entire operation. The continued success of the escapes was of much greater importance.
The bravest participants in the Underground Railroad campaign were the fugitive slaves who had previously escaped and risked recapture and death returning to the South, time and time again, to lead other escapees along the route. The most famous being Harriett Tubman. It is said that Harriett Tubman made up to 19 or 20 trips back into the hostile South where there was a $40,000 bounty on her head, dead or alive. She helped more than 300 slaves escape all the way, to freedom.
Slaves hid and rested during the daylight hours restricting travel to night. On clear nights they would use moonlight or the North Star to guide them in the right direction.
There were 14 Northern states and all of Western and Eastern Canada that offered sanctuary and freedom to fugitive slaves. These states, along with Canada, were the terminal destinations of the Underground Railroad. The primary states targeted were Indiana, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and the New England states. Some slaves did not feel safe living anywhere in the United States, due to the harsh laws and hefty bounties established in the South to discourage escapes. It was not uncommon for slave catchers to travel up North in order to kidnap and transport a slave back to a plantation owner down South. For this reason, more than 30,000 escaped slaves chose to continue onward across the Canadian border, where there were laws in place to protect them from slave catching and kidnapping. After the abolishment of slavery several African-Americans repatriated back into the United States and settled along the border in places such as, Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota
It is estimated that within that time over 100,000 slaves escaped.
Railroad terms were used as code words. The people who helped transport slaves from point to point, providing them food, water, safe havens and money were called "conductors". The homes. stores, warehouses, root cellars and barns used to hide the fugitive slaves were called "stations". The stations were spaced about 20 to 50 miles apart. Many stations were equipped with hidden rooms, passage ways and tunnels where the fugitive slaves would hide, sleep, eat and move about.
Several white abolitionist like, Levi Coffin, Thomas Garrett and John Rankin were suspected to be conductors. These men were vocal opponents to the institution of slavery. Later, both Coffin and Garrett wrote books detailing the workings of the Underground Railroad and much of what is known about it today came from that literature. Free African-Americans such as, Frederick Douglass and William Still were also believed to be conductors. However, they could not be as vocal as their white counterparts. Both being free black men existing in a society that, in some part, upheld black slavery, any statements connecting them to the Underground Railroad would have jeopardize their safety and brought possible destruction to the entire operation. The continued success of the escapes was of much greater importance.
The bravest participants in the Underground Railroad campaign were the fugitive slaves who had previously escaped and risked recapture and death returning to the South, time and time again, to lead other escapees along the route. The most famous being Harriett Tubman. It is said that Harriett Tubman made up to 19 or 20 trips back into the hostile South where there was a $40,000 bounty on her head, dead or alive. She helped more than 300 slaves escape all the way, to freedom.
Slaves hid and rested during the daylight hours restricting travel to night. On clear nights they would use moonlight or the North Star to guide them in the right direction.
There were 14 Northern states and all of Western and Eastern Canada that offered sanctuary and freedom to fugitive slaves. These states, along with Canada, were the terminal destinations of the Underground Railroad. The primary states targeted were Indiana, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and the New England states. Some slaves did not feel safe living anywhere in the United States, due to the harsh laws and hefty bounties established in the South to discourage escapes. It was not uncommon for slave catchers to travel up North in order to kidnap and transport a slave back to a plantation owner down South. For this reason, more than 30,000 escaped slaves chose to continue onward across the Canadian border, where there were laws in place to protect them from slave catching and kidnapping. After the abolishment of slavery several African-Americans repatriated back into the United States and settled along the border in places such as, Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota
Written by Carl G. Brown
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