Ahistorical Elements In The Underground Railroad

In the beginning of the novel, The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead, Mabel is constantly represented as an awful mother when described by her daughter, Cora. Mabel spends her whole life on the Randall Plantation before one day running away, leaving Cora behind. Cora perceives this as an act of selfishness and is furious that Mabel didn’t say goodbye. Cora thought “it was incomprehensible that Mabel had abandoned her to that hell” (Whitehead 98). If the plantation was bad enough for Mabel to leave, it must be just as bad for Cora

This book is what gives us the background knowledge needed to really understand the content we receive in the course. One of the ways it aligns with the content is that education on slavery in the south side is always given but we tend to forget that slavery existed in the north as well. We hear about southern plantation owners, southern slavery and everything happening there but we do not often hear about the slavery that existed in the north. This is also the time in which the “seasoning” period was seen. The “seasoning” period was seen as a time in which the slaves who were seen as “the best” were sent off to the Caribbean where here they were traded with sugar, and tobacco.

The book I decided to review is titled, “Slavery in the Cities: The South 1820-1860” by Richard C. Wade. The book is about slavery in the cities, mainly in the south. Wade also spoke about conditions of life of the slaves, the law, and the runaways. To conclude the book, he spoke about the transformation of slavery in the cities during the 19th century. Wade’s thesis was stated in the introductory paragraphs.

Gateway to Freedom: The Hidden History of the Underground Railroad focuses on New York, throughout the book Foner indicates that New York city was a crucial way station in the railroad's Northeast corridor, which brought slaves from the upper South through Philadelphia and on to upstate New York, New England and Canada. He begins to tell us about the formation of the New York Anti-slavery Society in 1833, followed two years later by the biracial committee of vigilance for the protection of people of color. Brothers Lewis and Arthur Tappan were the leading figures. Even after abolition, slavery still exists because of an 1817 state law that permitted Southern slaveowners, who in Manhattan on business and as tourists, to bring slaves along for

It is no secret that slavery and American expansion go hand in hand. The social reality spilled into politics and divisions between states. The interactions between the North and South caused the nation to go into war. When examining the nature of slavery, these two books do just that. Creating an Old South by Edward Baptist analyzes the time period before the civil war in middle Florida, focusing on two counties.

Reading the book, The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead depict the life of Cora as she travels on the underground railroad. On her travels the trains make certain stops or should I say certain states like South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, etc. These states represent or symbolize the problems slaves had to face while trying to pursue freedom on the Underground Railroad. These problems can range from being whipped to death, or the master having unconsent sex with the male slave’s wife. Reading these chapters in this novel helped shaped on how slaves told about their life problems in a narrative way

Despite the term used to refer to it, the Underground Railroad was not an actual railroad nor it was underground; rather, it was a network of persons devouted to help fugitive slaves on their path to freedom, especiallly to northern states and Canda. However, the given name may be appropriate as it unveils the secrecy, darkness and disguise characterizing the

The Underground Railroad was one of the more popular ways slaves could escape from their bondage and obtain their freedom. Many people would not assume that New York City was an important station on the Underground Railroad. Eric Foner, a professor and prominent historian from Columbia University, has published a monograph about the Underground Railroad. His monograph, titled Gateway to Freedom: The Hidden History of the Underground Railroad describes how New York City “was a crucial waystation in the metropolitan corridor through which fugitive slaves made their way from the Upper South” (Foner, 2015, pg. 7). Foner also explains about how the fugitive slaves issue affected the coming of the Civil War and the national debate about it.

This book would be an important addition to history classes since most focus on the oppression of the slaves, but most did not realize that the subjugation went further up the chain of command. Most people believed that women in the south had the perfect lives, living in a charming mansion, with the perfect husband, and slaves to complete all her chores. By recommending this book to others, their eyes will be opened to a piece of history that has been lost, it contributes everything one would need to know the extent of the situation, leaving nothing to the

The Underground Railroad was a secret network of safe houses that organized by people who helped runaway men, women and children slaves. From the years 1780 until the beginning of the Civil War in 1861 enslaved individuals would run away in hopes to receive help from the free and reach their way up into the northern part of the United States. Many historians have approached this topic in several perspectives. Daniel O. Sayers “The Underground Railroad Reconsidered” provides an overview of the Underground Railroad as a long-term of African-American defiance and marronage. It analyses the political economic impacts across the slave owning sectors, the slave’s culture and the influence of religion on the Underground Railroad.

The Peculiar Institution: Slavery in the Ante-Bellum South takes a profound look into slavery in America from the beginning. The author, Kenneth Stampp, tells the story after doing a lot of research of how the entire South operated with slavery and in the individual states. The author uses many examples from actual plantations and uses a lot of statistics to tell the story of the south. The author’s examples in his work explains what slavery was like, why it existed and what it done to the American people.

When slavery was legal in the United States, many people did not know how cruelly the slaves were treated in the south. This changed when writers like Frederick Douglass, an escaped slave, wrote about how they were treated. Frederick wrote about his time as a slave in Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. [something about slave owners power] The slave owners’ methods of maintaining power over their slaves were to disgust them with freedom, the violence that they were constantly exposed to, and their lack of education.

The Underground Railroad. A metaphor as it was, it was neither a railroad nor was it even underground. In the time where slavery became a divided issue with the status of legality in various parts of the country, the underground railroad found its beginnings through collective organized efforts from abolitionists and allies alike to help enslaved African americans to escape to territories and states where they could be free from slavery. It was a loosely-developed system that also included series of routes led by “conductors” such as Harriet Tubman, for escaping slaves, or “passengers”.

The author proves in Georgia that not only was self preservation abundant but also came in different shapes and forms in slave communities. Whitehead proves this through the characters in Georgia. Whether it be Caesar's will to escape, or Cora's protection of her garden, or Nag's "licentious practices." Caesar's will to escape is a pretty evident form of self preservation . Caesar want to escape the Randall Plantation for obvious reasons.

From this, derives a bond with the reader that pushes their understanding of the evil nature of slavery that society deemed appropriate therefore enhancing their understanding of history. While only glossed over in most classroom settings of the twenty-first century, students often neglect the sad but true reality that the backbone of slavery, was the dehumanization of an entire race of people. To create a group of individuals known for their extreme oppression derived from slavery, required plantation owner’s of the South to constantly embedded certain values into the lives of their slaves. To talk back means to be whipped.