Underground Railroad Slavery

Slavery has been a grave mistake that has dented our history and has been remembered ever since. Some people have demonstrated acts of leadership and heroism to get slavery to an end. Never did they give up because they have not succeeded but they still gave it their all. Some have given more than others, but all contribute that will get them to end of the goal. People like Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass have truly demonstrated of being a person, or abolitionist, that possesses traits like leadership, heroism and dedication.

Abolitionists were part of the historical campaign to free slaves and finish the traffic of slaves also known as abolitionism. Some other abolitionists were Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, Solomon Northup, and Fredrick Douglas. Harriet Tubman was one of the most well- known abolitionists. Harriet Tubman was born into a slave family with the name Araminta Harriet Ross. According to Harriet

The Abolitionists were people that were against slavery, and the group was dedicated to the cause of getting rid of it. Most of abolitionists were from the North, and the Abolitionist movement started in the 1830s. The Underground Railroad is the most thought of when we think of the Abolitionist Movement. The Underground Railrod helped fugitive slaves from the south, get to the North. Most of the slaves that went through this process made it to their destination, and became free African Americans like they had wanted to be.

The slaves eventually gain political power to fight for their rights. Courageous African Americans began to speak out as leaders for the slave population. For example, Fredrick Douglass, a former slave, stood up for the slave’s human rights in the abolition of slavery. Douglass eventually became an anti-slavery lecturer and informed the public on the traumatic experience of being on the other side as a slave. Without the Underground Railroad these celebrity fugitives would not have been able to speak up for their own

Slaves helped end slavery by passing information to Union lines(Doc. 1). Since they were in the South, they could hear plans of the Confederacy(OI). Then they could head North to Union lines and tell them the Information(Doc. 2)(Doc. 5).

The Abolitionist Movement was a movement that was against slavery. The Abolitionist Movement is trying to address the problem which is that slavery needs to end immediately and give freedom to all the slaves. To do this, the public's opinion must change about slavery. People thought slavery was okay. In the 1800s, there were about 893,602 slaves in the United States.

The Underground Railroad was a network of secret routes and safe houses used by 19th-century enslaved people of African descent in the United States. It was in efforts to escape to the Free states and Canada with the aid of abolitionists that showed sympathy towards them. The Underground Railroad was not “underground” and it wasn’t actually a “railroad.” The reason it was called “underground” was because of how secretive it had to be and it was called a “railroad” because it was an evolving form of transportation.

Influential Leaders of the Underground Railroad Throughout the mid 1800’s slavery was an action spread broadly across the south. The Underground Railroad arose in the early 1830’s, helping slaves escape to a new future under the influence and assistance of some major names: Harriet Tubman, William Still and Thomas Garrett. These three influential leaders took the problem of slavery into their own hands by conducting routs, traveling back and forth to help others, assisting serfs to escape while risking their lives for slaves, like them, to a future of freedom.

The Fugitive Slave Act was passed by the House of Representatives on February 4, 1793 by a vote of 48–7 with 14 abstaining. Eight days later, the Act was approved by Congress. Although the Article four of the U.S. Constitution granted the slave masters the rights to recapture slaves who fled to free states, “the Fugitive Slave Law included new and harsher provisions mandating the participation of northern states and individuals in the recapture process and curtailing the rights of alleged fugitives to prove they were not runaways” (Kazin 492). Many, either white or black, reacted to this Act, especially in the North. Some states even passed personal-liberty laws to allow fugitive slaves to appeal their case in a court.

Ross Rosenfeld in The Underground Railroad: A Path to Freedom claims that mainly conductors and station masters would help the slaves. The station masters would often supply slaves with food, water, and clothes/shoes. One of the station masters was Thomas Garrett, who helped almost 2,700 slaves in about forty years of his life. Harriet Tubman was another very popular person. She would take other slaves through many woods, swamps, and long rivers.

The Significance of Harriet Tubman and Harriet Beecher Stowe’s involvement in the Underground Railroad (as part of the Abolitionist Movement, 1850-1860) The Underground Railroad is not what it may appear in its most literal sense; it is in fact a symbolical term for the two hundred year long struggle to break free from slavery in the U.S. It encompasses every slave who tried to escape and every free person who helped them to do so. The origins of the railroad are hidden in obscurity yet eventually it expanded into one of the earliest Civil Rights movements in the US.

In conclusion, this essay is important to know about because this stuff still happens today. Human trafficking exists and people like Harriet Tubman are able to take a stand and work on the problem. People are put into a form of slavery and forced to work there. The modern day underground railroad was established by victims like Harriet Tubman and still works. I hope this inspired you to make a difference and continue her dream of no slavery.

One such slave was Harriet Tubman. Harriet Tubman was One of the most well-known conductors of the Underground Railroad. She rescued over 300 slaves over the course of eleven years. Tubman was born a slave in the early 1820’s, originally named Araminta Harriet Ross until after marriage. When she was a slave, she endured the inhumanity of repeated lashings and beatings.

The Underground Railroad was helpful to slaves because it helped them escape and be free. Slaves not only wanted to be free they also wanted their families to be free. The Underground Railroad did just that. The Underground Railroad was not underground nor a railroad it was just called underground because of its secretive nature and railroad because of the emerging transportation. Harriet Tubman was a women who wanted to be free!

During the Age of Reform in New Jersey, the African Methodist Episcopal Church as well as black and white citizens established an unofficial Underground Railroad to facilitate fugitives with escape routes and safe houses (Thesis). During the time period before the Civil War, tensions were rising between abolitionists and slave owners. The free African-American community, whether it’s Quakers, or members of the AME Church, wanted to end slavery and help slaves escape from their cruel and abusive masters. Some members of the white community were also against slavery, including Quakers and other Christian religious groups. Doctor John Grimes and the Grimes family were Quakers and active members of the anti-slavery movement.