title: Roma (2018 film)

text: After "Roma" was nominated for Best Picture at the 91st Academy Awards, AMC Theatres and Regal Cinemas both issued statements saying that "Roma" would not be part of the line-up at either chain's annual Best Picture showcase. AMC said in their statement that this was due to them never receiving a license from Netflix to screen "Roma" in their theaters. Both theaters chains have refused to screen films from Netflix due to their policies that require a minimum of 90 days between theatrical release and home viewing.


title: Roma (2018 film)

text: The eligibility of the film for the Academy Awards was a matter of controversy in the US film industry, since despite the film's limited theatrical release, many believed it to have been made for home viewing. In March 2019, Steven Spielberg expressed disapproval of streaming films being eligible for Academy Awards, and the timing of his comments led commentators to believe they were a response to "Roma", although he did not mention the film by name.


title: Roma (2018 film)

text: The film received the biggest promotional campaign in Netflix's history, with anywhere from $25 million to $50 million in advertisements (with Netflix insisting on the former figure and its rivals on the latter). One unique tactic included sending out thousands of six-pound, "Roma" coffee table books (worth $175) to awards voters, which led a consultant to say "the shipping charges cost more than some movies' advertising budgets".


title: Roma (2018 film)

text: While Netflix has not publicly disclosed box-office figures for "Roma", sources deduced that the film made $90,000–120,000 from three theaters in its opening weekend, 23–25 November, and a total of $200,000 over the five-day Thanksgiving frame, including selling out theaters in Los Angeles and New York City. Had the results been officially reported, its approximate venue average of $66,600 would have ranked among the best ever for a foreign-language film. In its second weekend of theatrical release, the film expanded to 17 theaters. IndieWire estimated the film grossed $110,000 from four of them, including selling out in San Francisco, and that the film would "easily be the best grossing subtitled film" of 2018. In its third weekend, the film made another estimated $500,000 from 100 theaters, for a running total of $900,000.


title: Roma (2018 film)

text: Despite being released on Netflix on Friday, 14 December, the film expanded to 145 theaters and grossed an estimated $362,000, for a four-week total of $1.4 million. It made another $300,000 the following week and $150,000 the week after that. By its ninth week of release, the film had made an estimated $2.8 million. In the weekend following the announcement of its 10 Oscar nominations, "Roma" grossed another $175,000 from around 80 theaters, pushing it past $3 million, the first foreign language film to do so domestically since "Ida" in 2013.


title: Roma (2018 film)

text: On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, "Roma" holds an approval rating of based on reviews, with an average rating of . The website's critical consensus reads, ""Roma" finds writer-director Alfonso Cuarón in complete, enthralling command of his visual craft – and telling the most powerfully personal story of his career." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 96 out of 100, based on 50 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". It is the 26th highest-rated film of all-time on the site, and the best-reviewed of 2018.


title: Roma (2018 film)

text: Writing for "The Guardian", Peter Bradshaw said ""Roma" is thrilling, engrossing, moving – and just entirely amazing, an adjectival pileup of wonder. He has reached back into his own childhood to create an intensely personal story." Likewise, Manohla Dargis of "The New York Times" called the film "an expansive, emotional portrait of life buffeted by violent forces, and a masterpiece" and praised Cuarón's use of "intimacy and monumentality to express the depths of ordinary life".


title: Roma (2018 film)

text: Slavoj Žižek argued that people were appreciating the film for the wrong reasons, claiming that people were appreciating Cleo's grace too much, without seeing the way that Cleo needs to break free from the moral constraints placed upon her.


title: Roma (2018 film)

text: According to a study of 65 indigeneity-oriented fictional features produced in Latin America in the 21st century, the film can be considered as a catalyst for change in the blueprint for representations of Indigenous characters in cinema. "Roma" depicts Cleo, the main Indigenous character, to a level of detail that there is no room for stereotypical portrayals. Gonzalez Rodriguez asserts that the film is a unique example of "syntonic indigeneity" as it challenges traditional representations of the Indigenous "Other" as an exotic figure ("histrionic indigeneity").


title: Roma (2018 film)

text: "Roma" won the Golden Lion for Best Film at the Venice International Film Festival. At the Toronto International Film Festival, it was also named second runner-up for the People's Choice Award.


title: Roma (2018 film)

text: The film received 10 nominations for the 91st Academy Awards, including Best Picture—thereby tying with "The Favourite" as the most-nominated film. It is also the first film distributed primarily by a streaming service that has been nominated for Best Picture. It is also tied with "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" (2000) for the most Oscar nominations ever received by a film not in the English language. It ultimately won three Academy Awards, including Best Foreign Language Film, becoming the first Mexican film to win this honor.


title: Roma (2018 film)

text: "Roma" received American Film Institute's 2018 AFI Special Award, as it was not eligible for AFI Movies of the Year due to its foreign-language status. It was chosen by "Time" magazine and the New York Film Critics Circle as the best film of 2018, and by the National Board of Review as one of the .


title: Roma (2018 film)

text: The February 2020 issue of "New York" lists "Roma" as one of the Best Movies That Lost Best Picture at the Oscars.


title: Roma (2018 film)

text: On 15 November 2019, it was confirmed that "Roma" would be receiving a DVD and Blu-ray release from The Criterion Collection, marking the first time a Netflix original film was added to the library, and one of the rare times that Netflix had permitted one of their films for physical media release. Netflix described the announcement as "such an honor". To coincide with the Criterion Collection release, in February 2020 Netflix released a behind-the-scenes documentary named "Road to Roma".


title: Dante Basco

text: Dante R. Basco (born August 29, 1975) is an American film, television and voice actor. He is best known for his role as Rufio, the leader of the Lost Boys in Steven Spielberg's "Hook", and Julian Lee in "Fakin' da Funk", and for his many voice acting roles, most notably as Prince Zuko from Nickelodeon's "", General Iroh II, Zuko's grandson, in "The Legend of Korra", Shingo in EA's "Skate.", Jake Long from Disney Channel's "", Fukushima in Kim Possible, Kwok Wong in "the Proud Family", Jingmei in "The Boondocks", Kenny Rodgers in Firebreather, Tuck in "Generator Rex", Scorpion in "Ultimate Spider-Man", Jai Kell in "Star Wars Rebels", Cheddar in "We Bare Bears", Javier in "Victor and Valentino", and Spin Kick from "Carmen Sandiego".


title: Dante Basco

text: Basco was born in Pittsburg, California, and raised in Cerritos and Paramount, California. He has four siblings, including actor Dion Basco. In Dante's early years, he was part of the Street Freaks breakdancing crew with his brothers. He attended Orange County High School of the Arts in the Music and Theatre Conservatory and graduated in 1993.


title: Dante Basco

text: He got into acting taking on minor roles in television. Basco's breakout performance was when he appeared as the leader Rufio of the Lost Boys in Steven Spielberg's 1991 film "Hook" with Robin Williams and Dustin Hoffman. A punk band was later named after this character.


title: Dante Basco

text: In June 2017, he agreed with Jonah Feingold to work on a new film together, "Bangarang", about the character Rufio. The development of the project started with a Kickstarter campaign.


title: Dante Basco

text: "Avatar: Braving the Elements", an official Nickelodeon companion podcast to "", premiered on June 22, 2021, hosted by Basco and Janet Varney. The podcast is an episode-by-episode deep dive into the Avatarverse with special guest appearances.


title: Dante Basco

text: Basco has done voice acting for many animated productions, including Zuko in "", Jai Kell in "Star Wars Rebels" and in "". He also voice acted Kwok Wong in "The Proud Family". He voiced Matt Martin/Kewl Breeze in the short-lived animated series "Zevo-3." He also voiced General Iroh, Zuko's grandson, in "The Legend of Korra."


title: Dante Basco

text: He contributed several voices for the video game "Saints Row", as well as voicing Shingo in the video games "Skate", "Skate 2" and "Skate 3". He voiced Seeing Farther in the video game "" and the Asmodian male youth voice for the MMORPG game "". He has also provided voices for the games "Aion", "" and "Mortal Kombat X".


title: University of London

text: The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree-awarding examination board for students holding certificates from University College London and King's College London and "other such other Institutions, corporate or unincorporated, as shall be established for the purpose of Education, whether within the Metropolis or elsewhere within our United Kingdom". This fact allows it to be one of three institutions to claim the title of the third-oldest university in England, and moved to a federal structure in 1900. It is now incorporated by its fourth (1863) royal charter and governed by the University of London Act 2018.


title: University of London

text: It was the first university in the United Kingdom to introduce examinations for women in 1869 and, a decade later, the first to admit women to degrees. In 1913, it appointed Caroline Spurgeon as only the second female professor at a British university, and in 1948 was the first British university to appoint a woman as its vice chancellor (chief executive). The university's member institutions house the oldest teaching hospitals in England.


title: University of London

text: The university consists of 17 member institutions and three central academic bodies. The university has around 48,000 distance learning external students and campus-based internal students, making it the largest university by number of students in the United Kingdom. For most practical purposes, ranging from admissions to funding, the member institutions operate on an independent basis, with many awarding their own degrees whilst remaining in the federal university.


title: University of London

text: The largest colleges by enrolment are UCL, King's College London, City, Queen Mary, Birkbeck, the London School of Economics, Royal Holloway, and Goldsmiths, each of which has over 9,000 students. Smaller, more specialist, colleges are the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), St George's (medicine), the Royal Veterinary College, London Business School, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, the Royal Academy of Music, the Courtauld Institute of Art, and the Institute of Cancer Research. Imperial College London was formerly a member from 1907 before it became an independent university in 2007, and Heythrop College was a member from 1970 until its closure in 2018. City is the most recent constituent college, having joined on 1 September 2016.


title: University of London

text: Under the 2018 Act, member institutions ceased to be termed colleges and gained the right to seek university status without having to leave the federal university: Birkbeck, City, Goldsmiths’, King's College London, the LSE, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Queen Mary, the Royal Veterinary College, Royal Holloway, SOAS, St George's and UCL have all indicated that they intend to do so.


title: University of London

text: As of 2015, there are around 2 million University of London alumni across the world, including 12 monarchs or royalty, more than 60 presidents or prime ministers in the world (including 1 prime minister of the United Kingdom), 85 Nobel laureates, 5 Fields Medallists, 4 Turing Award winners, 6 Grammy winners, 2 Oscar winners, 3 Olympic gold medalists and the "Father of the Nation" of several countries. The university owns University of London Press.


title: University of London

text: University College London (UCL) was founded under the name "London University" (but without recognition by the state) in 1826 as a secular alternative to the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, which limited their degrees to members of the established Church of England. As a result of the controversy surrounding UCL's establishment, King's College London was founded as an Anglican college by royal charter in 1829.


title: University of London

text: In 1830, UCL applied for a royal charter as a university which would allow it to confer degrees. This was rejected, but renewed in 1834. In response to this, opposition to "exclusive" rights grew among the London medical schools. The idea of a general degree awarding body for the schools was discussed in the medical press. and in evidence taken by the Select Committee on Medical Education. However, the blocking of a bill to open up Oxford and Cambridge degrees to dissenters led to renewed pressure on the Government to grant degree awarding powers to an institution that would not apply religious tests, particularly as the degrees of the new University of Durham were also to be closed to non-Anglicans.


title: University of London

text: In 1835, the government announced the response to UCL's petition for a charter. Two charters would be issued, one to UCL incorporating it as a college rather than a university, without degree awarding powers, and a second "establishing a Metropolitan University, with power to grant academical degrees to those who should study at the London University College, or at any similar institution which his Majesty might please hereafter to name".


title: University of London

text: Following the issuing of its charter on 28 November 1836, the new University of London started drawing up regulations for degrees in March 1837. The death of William IV in June, however, resulted in a problem – the charter had been granted "during our Royal will and pleasure", meaning it was annulled by the king's death. Queen Victoria issued a second charter on 5 December 1837, reincorporating the university. The university awarded its first degrees in 1839, all to students from UCL and King's College.


title: University of London

text: The university established by the charters of 1836 and 1837 was essentially an examining board with the right to award degrees in arts, laws and medicine. However, the university did not have the authority to grant degrees in theology, considered the senior faculty in the other three English universities. In medicine, the university was given the right to determine which medical schools provided sufficient medical training. In arts and law, by contrast, it would examine students from UCL, King's College, or any other institution granted a royal warrant, effectively giving the government control of which institutions could submit students for examination by the university. Beyond this right to submit students for examination, there was no other connection between the colleges and the university.


title: University of London

text: In 1849 the university held its first graduation ceremony at Somerset House following a petition to the senate from the graduates, who had previously received their degrees without any ceremony. About 250 students graduated at this ceremony. The London academic robes of this period were distinguished by their "rich velvet facings".


title: University of London

text: The list of institutions whose students could enter University of London examinations grew rapidly by 1858, including all other British universities as well as over 30 other schools and colleges outside of London. In that year, a new charter opened up the examinations to everyone, effectively abolishing the weak link between the university and the colleges. This led the Earl of Kimberley, a member of the university's senate, to tell the House of Lords in 1888 "that there were no Colleges affiliated to the University of London, though there were some many years ago". The reforms of 1858 also incorporated the graduates of the university into a convocation, similar to those of Oxford, Cambridge and Durham, and authorised the granting of degrees in science, the first BSc being awarded in 1860.


title: University of London

text: The expanded role meant the university needed more space, particularly with the growing number of students at the provincial university colleges. Between 1867 and 1870 a new headquarters was built at 6 Burlington Gardens, providing the university with exam halls and offices.


title: University of London

text: In 1863, via a fourth charter, the university gained the right to grant degrees in surgery. This 1863 charter remains the authority under which the university is incorporated, although all its other provisions were abolished under the 1898 University of London Act.


title: University of London

text: In 1878, the university set another first when it became the first university in the UK to admit women to degrees, via the grant of a supplemental charter. Four female students obtained Bachelor of Arts degrees in 1880 and two obtained Bachelor of Science degrees in 1881, again the first in the country.


title: University of London

text: In the late 19th century, the university came under criticism for merely serving as a centre for the administration of tests, and there were calls for a "teaching university" for London. UCL and KCL considered separating from the university to form a separate university, variously known as the Albert University, Gresham University and Westminster University. Following two royal commissions the University of London Act 1898 was passed, reforming the university and giving it a federal structure with responsibility for monitoring course content and academic standards within its institutions. This was implemented in 1900 with the approval of new statutes for the university.


title: University of London

text: The reforms initiated by the 1898 act came into force with the approval of the new federal statutes in 1900. Many of the colleges in London became schools of the university, including UCL, King's College, Bedford College, Royal Holloway and the London School of Economics. Regent's Park College, which had affiliated in 1841, became an official divinity school of the university in 1901 (the new statutes having given London the right to award degrees in theology) and Richmond (Theological) College followed as a divinity school of the university in 1902; Goldsmiths College joined in 1904; Imperial College was founded in 1907; Queen Mary College joined in 1915; the School of Oriental and African Studies was founded in 1916; and Birkbeck College, which was founded in 1823, joined in 1920.


title: University of London

text: The previous provision for colleges outside London was not abandoned on federation, instead London offered two routes to degrees: "internal" degrees offered by schools of the university and "external" degrees offered at other colleges (now the University of London flexible and distance learning programmes).


title: University of London

text: UCL and King's College, whose campaign for a teaching university in London had resulted in the university's reconstitution as a federal institution, went even further than becoming schools of the university and were actually merged into it. UCL's merger, under the 1905 University College London (Transfer) Act, happened in 1907. The charter of 1836 was surrendered and all of UCL's property became the University of London's. King's College followed in 1910 under the 1908 King's College London (Transfer) Act. This was a slightly more complicated case, as the theological department of the college (founded in 1846) did not merge into the university but maintained a separate legal existence under King's College's 1829 charter.


title: University of London

text: The expansion of the university's role meant that the Burlington Garden premises were insufficient, and in March 1900 it moved to the Imperial Institute in South Kensington. However, its continued rapid expansion meant that it had outgrown its new premises by the 1920s, requiring yet another move. A large parcel of land in Bloomsbury near the British Museum was acquired from the Duke of Bedford and Charles Holden was appointed architect with the instruction to create a building "not to suggest a passing fashion inappropriate to buildings which will house an institution of so permanent a character as a University." This unusual remit may have been inspired by the fact that William Beveridge, having just become director of LSE, upon asking a taxi driver to take him to the University of London was met with the response "Oh, you mean the place near the Royal School of Needlework". Holden responded by designing Senate House, the current headquarters of the university, and at the time of completion the second largest building in London.


title: University of London

text: The University of London contingent of the Officers' Training Corps (OTC) was formed in 1908 and had enrolled 950 students by autumn 1914. During the First World War, the OTC supplied 500 officers to the British Army between August 1914 and March 1915. Some 665 officers associated with the university died during the First World War and 245 officers in the Second World War. the London University Officers' Training Corps (UOTC), drawn from 52 universities and colleges in the London area (not just the University of London), was the largest UOTC in the country, with about 400 officer cadets. It has been based at Yeomanry House in Handel Street, London since 1992. In 2011, Canterbury Company was founded to recruit officer cadets from universities in Kent.


title: University of London

text: During the Second World War, the colleges of the university (with the exception of Birkbeck) and their students left London for safer parts of the UK, while Senate House was used by the Ministry of Information, with its roof becoming an observation point for the Royal Observer Corps. Though the building was hit by bombs several times, it emerged from the war largely unscathed; rumour at the time had it that the reason the building had fared so well was that Adolf Hitler had planned to use it as his headquarters in London.


title: University of London

text: The latter half of the last century was less eventful. In 1948, Athlone Press was founded as the publishing house for the university, and sold to the Bemrose Corporation in 1979, subsequent to which it was acquired by Continuum publishing. However, the post-WWII period was mostly characterised by expansion and consolidation within the university, such as the acquisition as a constituent body of the Jesuit theological institution Heythrop College on its move from Oxfordshire in 1969.


title: University of London

text: The 1978 University of London Act saw the university defined as a federation of self-governing colleges, starting the process of decentralisation that would lead to a marked transference of academic and financial power in this period from the central authorities in Senate House to the individual colleges. In the same period, UCL and King's College regained their legal independence via acts of parliament and the issuing of new royal charters. UCL was reincorporated in 1977, while King's College's new charter in 1980 reunited the main body of the college with the corporation formed in 1829. In 1992 centralised graduation ceremonies at the Royal Albert Hall were replaced by individual ceremonies at the colleges. One of the largest shifts in power of this period came in 1993, when HEFCE (now the Office for Students, OfS) switched from funding the University of London, which then allocated money to the colleges, to funding the colleges directly and them paying a contribution to the university.


title: University of London

text: There was also a tendency in the late 20th century for smaller colleges to be amalgamated into larger "super-colleges". Some of the larger colleges (most notably UCL, King's College, LSE and Imperial) periodically put forward the possibility of their departure from the university, although no steps were taken to actually putting this into action until the early 21st century.


title: University of London

text: In 2002, Imperial College and UCL mooted the possibility of a merger, raising the question of the future of the University of London and the smaller colleges within it. Subsequently, considerable opposition from academic staff of both UCL and Imperial led to a rejection of the merger.


title: University of London

text: Despite this failure, the trend of decentralising power continued. A significant development in this process was the closing down of the Convocation of all the university's alumni in October 2003; this recognised that individual college alumni associations were now increasingly the centre of focus for alumni. However, the university continued to grow even as it moved to a looser federation, and, in 2005, admitted the Central School of Speech and Drama.


title: University of London

text: On 9 December 2005, Imperial College became the second constituent body (after Regent's Park College) to make a formal decision to leave the university. Its council announced that it was beginning negotiations to withdraw from the university in time for its own centenary celebrations, and in order to be able to award its own degrees. On 5 October 2006, the University of London accepted Imperial's formal request to withdraw from it. Imperial became fully independent on 9 July 2007, as part of the celebrations of the college's centenary.


title: University of London

text: The "Times Higher Education Supplement" announced in February 2007 that the London School of Economics, University College London and King's College London all planned to start awarding their own degrees, rather than degrees from the federal University of London as they had done previously, from the start of the academic year starting in Autumn 2007. Although this plan to award their own degrees did not amount to a decision to leave the University of London, the "THES" suggested that this "rais[ed] new doubts about the future of the federal University of London".


title: University of London

text: The School of Pharmacy, University of London, merged with UCL on 1 January 2012, becoming the UCL School of Pharmacy within the Faculty of Life Sciences. This was followed on 2 December 2014 by the Institute of Education also merging with UCL, becoming the UCL Institute of Education.


title: University of London

text: Since 2010, the university has been outsourcing support services such as cleaning and portering. This has prompted industrial action by the largely Latin American workforce under the "3Cosas" campaign (the 3Cosas – 3 causes –being sick pay, holiday pay, and pensions for outsourced workers on parity with staff employed directly by the university). The 3Cosas campaigners were members of the UNISON trade union. However, documents leaked in 2014 revealed that UNISON representatives tried to counter the 3Cosas campaign in meetings with university management. The 3Cosas workers subsequently transferred to the Independent Workers Union of Great Britain.


title: University of London

text: Following good results in the Research Excellence Framework in December 2014, City University London said that they were exploring the possibility of joining the University of London. It was subsequently announced in July 2015 that City would join the University of London in August 2016. It will cease to be an independent university and become a college as "City, University of London".


title: University of London

text: In 2016 reforms were proposed that would see the colleges become member institutions and be allowed to legally become universities in their own right. A bill to amend the university's statutes was introduced into the House of Lords in late 2016. The bill was held up by procedural matters in the House of Commons, with MP Christopher Chope objecting to it receiving a second reading without debate and no time having been scheduled for such debate. Twelve of the colleges, including UCL and King's, said that they would seek university status once the bill was passed. The bill was debated and passed its second reading on 16 October 2018. It received royal assent on 20 December 2018. The twelve colleges (namely, all except The Courtauld, ICR, LBS, RAM and RCSSD) subsequently applied for university status, although stating they did not intend to change their names, with notice being given in the London Gazette on 4 February 2019.


title: University of London

text: In 2018, Heythrop College became the first major British higher education institution to close since the medieval University of Northampton in 1265. Its library of over 250,000 volumes was moved to the Senate House Library.


title: University of London

text: In 2019, the University of London Press, founded in 1910, was relaunched as a fully open-access publisher specializing in "distinctive scholarship at the forefront of the Humanities".


title: University of London

text: The university owns a considerable central London estate of 12 hectares of freehold land in Bloomsbury, near Russell Square tube station.


title: University of London

text: Some of the university's colleges have their main buildings on the estate. The Bloomsbury Campus also contains eight Halls of Residence and Senate House, which houses Senate House Library, the chancellor's official residence and previously housed the School of Slavonic and East European Studies, now part of University College London (UCL) and housed in its own new building. Almost all of the School of Advanced Study is housed in Senate House and neighbouring Stewart House.


title: University of London

text: The university also owns many of the squares that formed part of the Bedford Estate, including Gordon Square, Tavistock Square, Torrington Square and Woburn Square, as well as several properties outside Bloomsbury, with many of the university's colleges and institutes occupying their own estates across London:


title: University of London

text: The university also has several properties outside London, including a number of residential and catering units further afield and the premises of the University of London Institute in Paris, which offers undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in French and historical studies.


title: University of London

text: The university's board of trustees, the governing and executive body of the university, comprises eleven appointed independent persons – all of whom are non-executive; the vice-chancellor, the deputy vice chancellor and four heads of member institutions, appointed by the Collegiate Council.


title: University of London

text: The board of trustees is supported by the Collegiate Council, which comprises the heads of the member institutions of the university, the deputy vice-chancellor, the dean and chief executive of the School of Advanced Study, the chief executive of the University of London Worldwide and the Collegiate Council's chair, the vice-chancellor.


title: University of London

text: For most practical purposes, ranging from admission of students to negotiating funding from the government, the 17 member institutions are treated as individual universities. Legally speaking they are known as "Recognised Bodies", with the authority to examine students and award them degrees of the university. Some member institutions also have the power to award their own degrees instead of those of the university; those which exercise that power include:


title: University of London

text: Most decisions affecting the member institutions and institutes of the University of London are made at the level of the member institutions or institutes themselves. The University of London does retain its own decision-making structure, however, with the Collegiate Council and board of trustees, responsible for matters of academic policy. The Collegiate Council is made up of the heads of member institutions of the university.


title: University of London

text: The 12 institutes, or "Listed Bodies", within the University of London offer courses leading to degrees that are both examined and awarded by the University of London. Additionally, twelve universities in England, several in Canada and many in other Commonwealth countries (notably in East Africa) began life as associate colleges of the university offering such degrees. By the 1970s, almost all of these colleges had achieved independence from the University of London. An increasing number of overseas and UK-based academic institutes offer courses to support students registered for the University of London flexible and distance learning diplomas and degrees and the Teaching Institutions Recognition Framework enables the recognition of these institutions.


title: University of London

text: Under the University of London Act 2018, a member institution is defined as "an educational, academic or research institution which is a constituent member of the University and has for the time being― (a) the status of a college under the statutes; or (b) the status of a university". As of February 2019, 12 of the colleges of the university have said they are seeking university status. This does not affect their status as member institution of the university or the degrees they award. The member institutions of the University of London (as of September 2018) are:


title: University of London

text: Some colleges and schools of the University of London have been amalgamated into larger colleges, closed or left the University of London. Those amalgamated with larger colleges include (listed by current parent institution):


title: University of London

text: A number of major universities originated as university colleges teaching external degrees of the University of London. These include:


title: University of London

text: Between 1946 and 1970, the university entered into 'schemes of special relation' with university colleges in the Commonwealth of Nations. These schemes encouraged the development of independent universities by offering a relationship with the University of London. University colleges in these countries were granted a royal charter. An academic board of the university college negotiated with the University of London over the entrance requirements for the admission of students, syllabuses, examination procedures and other academic matters. During the period of the special relationship, graduates of the colleges were awarded University of London degrees.


title: University of London

text: Some of the colleges which were in special relation are listed below, along with the year in which their special relation was established.


title: University of London

text: The University of London received a grant of arms in April 1838. The arms depict a cross of St George upon which there is a Tudor rose surrounded by detailing and surmounted by a crown. Above all of this there is a blue field with an open book upon it.


title: University of London

text: The University of London had established a rudimentary code for academic dress by 1844. The university was the first to devise a system of academic dress based on faculty colours, an innovation that was subsequently followed by many other universities.


title: University of London

text: In , students (approximately 5% of all UK students) attended one of the University of London's affiliated schools. Additionally, over 50,000 students are part of University of London Worldwide.


title: University of London

text: The ULU building on Malet Street (close to Senate House) was home to the University of London Union, which acted as the student union for all University of London students alongside the individual college and institution unions. The building is now rebranded as "Student Central, London", offering full membership to current University of London students, and associate membership to students at other universities, and other groups. The union previously owned "London Student," the largest student newspaper in Europe, which now runs as a digital news organisation


title: University of London

text: Though most sports teams are organised at the college level, ULU ran several sports clubs of its own, some of which (for example the rowing team) compete in BUCS leagues. The union also organised leagues for college teams to participate in. These leagues and sports clubs are supported by Friends of University of London Sport which aims to promote them.


title: University of London

text: In addition to these, ULU catered for sports not covered by the individual colleges through clubs such as the University of London Union Lifesaving Club, which helps students gain awards and learn new skills in lifesaving as well as sending teams to compete throughout the country in the BULSCA league.


title: University of London

text: ULU also organised several societies, ranging from Ballroom and Latin American Dance to Shaolin Kung Fu, and from the University of London Big Band to the Breakdancing Society. Affiliated to the university is the University of London Society of Change Ringers, a society for bellringers at all London universities.


title: University of London

text: The university operates eight intercollegiate halls of residence, which accommodate students from most of its colleges and member institutions:


title: University of London

text: A large number of famous individuals have passed through the University of London, either as staff or students, including at least 12 monarchs or royalty, 52 presidents or prime ministers, 84 Nobel laureates, 6 Grammy winners, 2 Oscar winners, 1 Ekushey Padak winner and 3 Olympic gold medalists. The collegiate research university has also produced Father of the Nation for several countries, including several members of Colonial Service and Imperial Civil Service during the British Raj and the British Empire.


title: University of London

text: Staff and students of the university, past and present, have contributed to a number of important scientific advances, including the discovery of vaccines by Edward Jenner and Henry Gray (author of "Gray's Anatomy"). Additional vital progress was made by University of London people in the following fields: the discovery of the structure of DNA (Francis Crick, Maurice Wilkins and Rosalind Franklin); the invention of modern electronic computers (Tommy Flowers); the discovery of penicillin (Alexander Fleming and Ernest Chain); the development of X-ray technology (William Henry Bragg and Charles Glover Barkla); discoveries on the mechanism of action of Interleukin 10 (Anne O'Garra); the formulation of the theory of electromagnetism (James Clerk Maxwell); the determination of the speed of light (Louis Essen); the development of antiseptics (Joseph Lister); the development of fibre optics (Charles K. Kao); and the invention of the telephone (Alexander Graham Bell).


title: University of London

text: Notable political figures who have passed through the university include Muhammad Haji Ibrahim Egal, Romano Prodi, Junichiro Koizumi, Aung San Suu Kyi, Ramsay MacDonald, Desmond Tutu, Basdeo Panday, Taro Aso, Walter Rodney, Nelson Mandela, B. R. Ambedkar and Mahatma Gandhi. 35th President of the United States John F. Kennedy filed an application and paid fees for a year's study at the LSE, but later fell ill and left the university without taking a single class.


title: University of London

text: In the arts, culture and literature the university has produced many notable figures. Writers include novelists Malcolm Bradbury, G. K. Chesterton, H. G. Wells, Thomas Hardy, Arthur C. Clarke and J. G. Ballard. Futurologist Donald Prell. Artists associated with the university include Jonathan Myles-Lea, and several of the leading figures in the Young British Artists movement (including Ian Davenport, Tracey Emin and Damien Hirst). Outstanding musicians across a wide range include the conductor Sir Simon Rattle, the soprano Felicity Lott and both members of Gilbert and Sullivan, to Mick Jagger, Elton John, Dido, Pakistani singer Nazia Hassan (known in South Asia as the "Queen of Pop"), and Hong Kong singer Karen Mok, composer Florence Margaret Spencer Palmer, and members of the bands Coldplay, Keane, Suede, The Velvet Underground, Blur, Iron Maiden, Placebo, The Libertines, and Queen.


title: University of London

text: The university has also played host to film directors (Christopher Nolan, Derek Jarman), philosophers (Karl Popper, Roger Scruton), explorers (David Livingstone), international academics (Sam Karunaratne), Riccarton High School Head of Commerce, Tom Neumann and leading businessmen (Michael Cowpland, George Soros).


title: University of London

text: The University of London presented its first honorary degrees in June 1903. This accolade has been bestowed on several members of British royal family and a wide range of distinguished individuals from both the academic and non-academic worlds. Honorary degrees are approved by the Collegiate Council, part of the university's governance structure.


title: University of London

text: In recent years the University of London has seen much controversy surrounding its treatment of staff and students.


title: University of London

text: In 2012, outsourced cleaning staff ran the "3 Cosas" campaign, fighting for improvements in three areas – sick pay, holiday and pensions. After over a year of high-profile strikes, protests and occupations, concessions were made by the university in terms of sick pay and holidays, however these improvements were nowhere near to the extent of what was being demanded by the campaign.


title: University of London

text: In 2013, after a student occupation in favour of ten demands, including fair pay for workers, a halt to privatisation of the university and an end to plans to shut down the university's student union ULU, police were called, resulting in the violent eviction and arrests of over 60 students, as well as police violence towards students outside supporting the occupation. After these events, a high-profile "Cops Off Campus" demonstration was held against the university's security policies, with thousands in attendance.


title: University of London

text: In 2018, an article was published by Vice that reported on concerns over the university's security arrangements at Senate House, where over 25 extra private security staff had been brought in. Students who had been involved in an occupation of Senate House were barred from using university facilities, and there were numerous allegations of students being verbally, physically and sexually assaulted by the temporary security staff.


title: University of London

text: In December 2018, the Independent Workers' Union of Great Britain called for a boycott of events at the university's central administration buildings, including Senate House, with the aim of putting pressure on the University of London to bring outsourced cleaning, catering and security staff in-house by targeting a revenue stream worth around £40 million per year.


title: University of London

text: In May 2019, the congress of the University and College Union, voted to boycott the University of London's central administration buildings including Senate House, raising the pressure on the University of London. Dr Dion Georgiou, an academic supporting the boycott and a member of UCU, wrote a comment piece for "The Guardian" shortly before the vote, urging the congress to approve the motion and claiming that "[outsourced workers] face an intransigent university management, whose response has frequently blended short-termism with heavy-handedness". The motion was passed two days later.


title: University of London

text: In 1850, Queen's University of Ireland was created as a federal university to provide degrees for students from the colleges established at Belfast, Cork and Galway. This was succeeded in 1879 by the Royal University of Ireland, an examining university along the model of the University of London, which was in turn succeeded by the federal National University of Ireland in 1908. When the University of New Zealand was constituted in 1874, it was a federal university modelled on the University of London, functioning principally as an examining body. University of the Cape of Good Hope, when it was constituted in 1875 and authorised to be responsible for examinations throughout South Africa. In Canada, similar structures were adopted, but on a regional basis. The University of Toronto acted as an examining and degree awarding body for the province of Ontario from 1853 to 1887, by utilising an operating model based on that of University of London.


title: University of London

text: In India, to satisfy the urge for higher education and learning, three universities were set up at three presidency towns in 1857 on the model of University of London as affiliating universities, viz., University of Calcutta, University of Mumbai and University of Madras.


title: University of London

text: The University of Wales was established in 1893 on a federal model incorporating (originally) colleges in Aberystwyth, Bangor and Cardiff. A decision to dissolve the University of Wales was made in 2017.


title: University of London

text: Dr. Watson, a fictional character in the Sherlock Holmes stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, received his medical degree from Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry (now part of QMUL) and met Sherlock Holmes in the chemical laboratory there. Jim Hacker, a fictional character in the 1980s British sitcom "Yes Minister" and its sequel "Yes, Prime Minister", received his degree, a third, from the university (LSE).


title: University of London

text: During the Second World War, the Senate House, London use by the Ministry of Information inspired two noted English writers: Graham Greene's novel "The Ministry of Fear" (1943) and its film adaptation "Ministry of Fear" by Fritz Lang (1944) set in Bloomsbury. George Orwell's wife Eileen worked in Senate House for the Censorship Department of the Ministry of Information, and her experiences inspired the description of the Ministry of Truth in Orwell's 1949 novel "Nineteen Eighty-Four".


title: University of London

text: A lecturer at the university (SOAS) named William McGovern was one of the real-life inspirations of the film character Indiana Jones.


title: University of London

text: Senate House and the constituent colleges of the University of London have been featured in Hollywood and British films.


title: University of London

text: In year 1916, Alfred Hitchcock enrolled at the University of London and took evening courses and drawing and design classes, and later in 1920 helped land him a spot designing title cards.


title: Tamsin Egerton

text: Tamsin Olivia Egerton (born Tamsin Olivia Egerton-Dick; 26 November 1988) is a British actress known for her roles as Chelsea Parker in the 2007 film "St Trinian's", Holly Goodfellow in the 2005 film "Keeping Mum", and Guinevere in the 2011 television series "Camelot".


title: Tamsin Egerton

text: Egerton-Dick was born on 26 November 1988 in Surrey, England, to Michael Dick and wife Nicola Egerton. Her father is a businessman. She began her acting career at age 6, following her older sister, Sophia, to a local youth theatre. Egerton-Dick attended the independent Ditcham Park School in Hampshire, where she reports experiencing bullying due to being a child actor.


title: Tamsin Egerton

text: In 2001, she played Mary Lennox (as a child) in a Royal Shakespeare Company musical production of "The Secret Garden", and appeared as young Morgaine in the television miniseries "The Mists of Avalon". She soon chose to shorten her surname to Egerton to improve her career prospects. The following year she played Princess Elenora in the children's television series "".


title: Tamsin Egerton

text: Egerton's film debut was as Holly Goodfellow, a precocious vicar's daughter in the black comedy "Keeping Mum" (2005). , where she performed a nude scene. Her breakthrough role was as Chelsea, a member of a posh clique in "St. Trinian's" (2007). She reprised the role in its sequel "" in 2009. Two years later, she starred in "Chalet Girl" with Felicity Jones, Ed Westwick, and Bill Nighy. In the same year she portrayed Guinevere in the historical fantasy drama series "Camelot". In 2013, Egerton appeared in Michael Winterbottom's biopic "The Look of Love" which was based on the life of strip-club owner Paul Raymond.


title: Tamsin Egerton

text: Egerton has been in a long-term relationship with American actor Josh Hartnett, first announced in 2012. They have a daughter (born 2015), a second child (born 2017), and a third child (born 2019). In March 2022, Hartnett revealed he and Egerton had married in November 2021. They reside in Surrey, England.


title: Empire (2015 TV series)

text: Empire is an American musical drama television series created by Lee Daniels and Danny Strong for Fox that ran from January 7, 2015 to April 21, 2020. It is a joint production by Imagine Television and 20th Century Fox Television and syndicated by 20th Television. Although it is filmed in Chicago, the show is set in New York. The series centers on the fictional hip hop music and entertainment company Empire Entertainment, and the drama among the members of the founders' family as they fight for control of it. It stars Terrence Howard, Taraji P. Henson, Bryshere Y. Gray, Jussie Smollett and Trai Byers as members of the Lyon Family, along with a supporting cast including Grace Byers, Kaitlin Doubleday, Gabourey Sidibe, Ta'Rhonda Jones, Serayah, Malik Yoba and Vivica A. Fox.


title: Empire (2015 TV series)

text: The series premiered on January 7, 2015 to nearly 10 million viewers while the first-season finale was watched by 17 million viewers. Its first season received positive reviews from critics, who praised its acting, particularly Henson's, its direction, soundtrack, writing, costumes, editing and the overall tone of the show, with many critics describing it as a "fresh take on a musical." Subsequent seasons also received positive reviews, with its second season being the most well-received.


title: Empire (2015 TV series)

text: During its run, it was one of the most-watched television shows on Fox. On April 30, 2019, Fox renewed the show for the sixth season and final season, and the first without Smollett, who was confirmed to not be returning after he was charged with filing a false police report in an incident where he allegedly was assaulted by two men he claimed were Trump supporters. The season premiered on September 24, 2019 and the series concluded on April 21, 2020.


title: Empire (2015 TV series)

text: A spin-off of the series, centered around Taraji P. Henson's character, Cookie Lyon, was set to launch in 2020. However, Fox passed on the pilot, and it is being shopped to other networks.


title: Empire (2015 TV series)

text: Lucious Lyon (Terrence Howard) is a hip hop mogul, former drug dealer, and CEO of Empire Entertainment. Informed of his own imminent early death from ALS, Lucious is forced to choose, from amongst his progeny, a successor who will control his dynasty after his demise. He begins working to groom one of his three sons to take over the family business – Empire CFO Andre (Trai Byers), R&B singer-songwriter Jamal (Jussie Smollett), and rapper Hakeem (Bryshere Y. Gray). In the process, Lucious pits them against each other. Lucious' ex-wife Cookie Lyon (Taraji P. Henson) is released from prison after serving a 17-year sentence, and also pulls for control of both the company and of her sons.


title: Empire (2015 TV series)

text: Howard, Henson and Sidibe filmed the pilot episode in Chicago (Cinespace Chicago Film Studios) in March 2014. On May 6, 2014, Fox picked up "Empire" as a series order for its 2014–15 television schedule. On May 12, 2014, Fox announced that "Empire" would air as a midseason replacement, rather than as a part of the fall schedule. On November 19, 2014, it was confirmed that the pilot episode would premiere on January 7, 2015, following the season 14 premiere of "American Idol".


title: Empire (2015 TV series)

text: The executive producers are Brian Grazer, Danny Strong and Francie Calfo. The show is written by Strong while Lee Daniels, who has been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director, made his television directorial debut with the show. According to Strong, the show is based in part on William Shakespeare's "King Lear", and James Goldman's "The Lion in Winter"; Daniels also acknowledged a strong influence from the ABC prime-time soap opera "Dynasty". Ilene Chaiken later joined the series as showrunner.


title: Empire (2015 TV series)

text: On January 17, 2015, the series was renewed for an 18-episode second season, which premiered on September 23, 2015.


title: Empire (2015 TV series)

text: The fourth season, consisting of eighteen episodes premiered on September 27, 2017, and crossed over with another Fox series co-created by Daniels, "Star".


title: Empire (2015 TV series)

text: On May 2, 2018, Fox renewed the series for a fifth season with Brett Mahoney taking over as showrunner from Ilene Chaiken. The season premiered on September 26, 2018.


title: Empire (2015 TV series)

text: On April 15, 2019, "The Hollywood Reporter" reported that a judge was allowing 300 jailed youth to sue Fox for using their prison facility to film "Empire."


title: Empire (2015 TV series)

text: Howard was cast in the lead on February 19, 2014. Henson was named as the female lead on February 26, and Jussie Smollett was announced in a starring role. Howard and Henson previously starred together as love interests in the film "Hustle & Flow", and starred in the 2005 film "Four Brothers". On March 10, 2014, Sidibe, who had previously worked with Daniels in "Precious", was cast in a recurring role as Becky, Lucious' assistant. Trai Byers and Grace Gealey were announced in regular roles, while Bryshere Y. Gray and Malik Yoba were announced in starring roles. Courtney Love was added to the cast on October 23, 2014. Naomi Campbell was announced in a recurring role on September 29, 2014.


title: Empire (2015 TV series)

text: On June 2, 2015, it was announced Adam Rodriguez would join the cast in a recurring role in the second season of "Empire", portraying Laz Delgado, a potential love interest for Cookie.


title: Empire (2015 TV series)

text: In 2016, Phylicia Rashad was cast as a recurring guest star in the role of Diana DuBois in the third season of "Empire".


title: Empire (2015 TV series)

text: On January 22, 2019, Jussie Smollett filed a police report about a threatening letter sent to Fox Studios, where "Empire" is filmed. According to Smollett, the letter contained "threatening language" and a powdery substance believed to be crushed-up Tylenol. On January 29, 2019, Smollett reported that he was attacked by two men who shouted "homophobic and racial slurs" at him and then threw an "unknown chemical substance" on him. Smollett told police that they wrapped a rope around his neck and yelled "MAGA country", which references President Donald Trump's "Make America Great Again" (MAGA) slogan. Smollett was then hospitalized.


title: Empire (2015 TV series)

text: On February 13, Chicago police arrested two "persons of interest". However, on February 14, 2019, it was revealed that police were investigating whether Smollett and the two men staged the attack because Smollett believed he was being written off "Empire". Interrogations revealed that both men, the Osundairo brothers, were allegedly paid off by Smollett to stage the attack. On February 20, 2019, Smollett was indicted for filing a false police report. He faces a maximum of three years in prison.


title: Empire (2015 TV series)

text: Subsequently, Smollett was removed from the last two episodes of the fifth season. In a written statement, the show's producers said that "While these allegations are very disturbing, we are placing our trust in the legal system as the process plays... We are also aware of the effects of this process on the cast and crew members who work on our show and to avoid further disruption on set, we have decided to remove the role of 'Jamal' from the final two episodes of the season."


title: Empire (2015 TV series)

text: On March 26, it was announced that the charges against Smollett had been dropped, although he remains under federal investigation regarding a hate letter that is believed to have been written by Smollett himself. The fate of Smollett's character 'Jamal' currently remains unclear.


title: Empire (2015 TV series)

text: On April 30, 2019, it was announced that although Fox Entertainment had extended Smollett's contract for season six of "Empire". There were no plans for the character to appear during the season.


title: Empire (2015 TV series)

text: On June 4, 2019, series co-creator Lee Daniels officially announced that Smollett would not be returning for the sixth and final season.


title: Empire (2015 TV series)

text: On December 9, 2021, Smollett was convicted on five of six counts brought against him by Special Prosecutor Dan Webb in the hoax case and is awaiting sentencing, where he faces up to three years in county jail for his fabricated police reports.


title: Empire (2015 TV series)

text: After finding his lead actors, Lee Daniels set out to find a producer to craft the music for the series. Because he felt his own musical tastes and desires would be a little too dated for the show, Daniels consulted with people he thought could give him a little more insight, his children. At the urging of his son and daughter, Daniels contacted super producer Timothy "Timbaland" Mosley, known for scoring hits with some of pop and R&B’s biggest artists including Missy Elliott, Madonna, Brandy, Destiny's Child, Justin Timberlake, Jay-Z, Nelly Furtado, Ginuwine, and Aaliyah.


title: Empire (2015 TV series)

text: As executive music Producer, Timbaland, co-songwriter/producer Jim Beanz, and a team of other musical collaborators took their cues from the writing team, which gave them an idea of where the plot is headed, and craft songs to fit those themes. However, the musical aspect of the series is very reality-based, unlike Fox's last musical series, "Glee", performances come with the organic development of the characters as artists, much like the performances featured in the ABC prime-time country musical drama "Nashville".


title: Empire (2015 TV series)

text: Any licensed songs and composer Fil Eisler's score are added after the episodes are filmed. The pilot itself consists of 12 songs. Columbia Records releases weekly soundtracks of "Empire" on the iTunes Store, the same strategy used with "Glee". In May 2015, Fox announced that Ne-Yo and J.R. Rotem would write music for the show's second season, joining Timbaland. Timbaland left "Empire" after season 2, and were replaced for season 3 by Rodney "Darkchild" Jerkins and Esther Dean.


title: Empire (2015 TV series)

text: On September 8, 2015, Scott Hoying and Mitch Grassi from Pentatonix arranged a medley of songs from the first season of "Empire" and posted it on their shared YouTube comedy/music channel, Superfruit. The video was sponsored by the Fox Broadcasting Company.


title: Empire (2015 TV series)

text: Columbia Records released the official soundtrack of "Empire"'s first season on March 10, 2015. The soundtrack consists of 11 songs and the deluxe version consists of 18 songs, all performed on the show. As of October 2015, the album has sold 439,000 total copies in the United States. Additional releases have followed for subsequent seasons.


title: Empire (2015 TV series)

text: For season 6, four songs from the premiere episode were released in advance of the season, and two new songs will be released each week ahead of each new episode.


title: Empire (2015 TV series)

text: "Empire" was set to premiere in Australia on February 19, 2015 on Network Ten; however, a week out from this date it was dumped from the schedule and pushed back. It ultimately premiered on March 1, 2015, to a disappointing 377,000 total viewers, although it fared better with viewers in younger demographics. The second season was broadcast on Eleven from September 29, 2015.


title: Empire (2015 TV series)

text: In Canada, the series was simulcast on Omni Television (Omni 2). The fourth episode and the season finale would also air on City, a sibling broadcast network. Sibling cable network FX Canada would also air a marathon of the show on March 14 and 15, 2015. The show moved to City starting in the 2015–16 season, but was dropped from their lineup after the first half of the second season due to low ratings; Fox affiliates are widely available on pay television as well as over-the-air in some areas. Shomi, a subscription streaming service co-owned by City's parent company Rogers Communications, began to add new episodes following their U.S. premiere on Fox. A representative of the service stated that "Empire" was among its ten most popular programs.


title: Empire (2015 TV series)

text: "Empire" started broadcasting in the United Kingdom on E4 with the first episode airing on April 28, 2015. 5Star have since taken over the rights as of Season 4.


title: Empire (2015 TV series)

text: The series premiered in India on STAR World Premiere HD on April 24, 2015 (only in high-definition). Later, on July 14, 2015, Empire also premiered on FX India (both in standard and high definition) with the Season 1 finale airing on July 29, 2015. Empire premiered on June 24, 2015 in Germany on Pro Sieben, with the Pilot reaching 930,000 viewers. In Finland, the show premiered on Sub on December 2, 2015.


title: Empire (2015 TV series)

text: In South Africa, the show premiered on e.tv on February 3, 2016. In Serbia, the series premiered on Fox, on January 23, 2016.


title: Empire (2015 TV series)

text: In 2016, a study by "The New York Times" of the 50 TV shows with the most Facebook Likes found that "Empire" "is most popular in the Black Belt and in parts of the country with a high percentage of Native Americans".


title: Empire (2015 TV series)

text: "Empire" has received positive reviews from critics. The praise has gone towards the cast, particularly Howard and Henson.


title: Empire (2015 TV series)

text: On Rotten Tomatoes, the first season has a rating of 84%, based on 49 reviews, with an average rating of 7.24/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Though heavy on melodrama, "Empire" elevates the nighttime soap with its top-notch cast, musical entertainment, and engrossing plots." On Metacritic the show has a score of 72 out of 100, based on 39 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". For the second season, the score rose a few points higher, further praising the performances of Henson and Howard, the character development, plot development, and the show's self-awareness for being a soap opera. On Rotten Tomatoes, the second season has a 87% "Certified Fresh" with an average rating of 7.54/10 from critics and a score of 77 from Metacritic, indicating "generally positive reviews".


title: Empire (2015 TV series)

text: David Wiegand wrote in the "San Francisco Chronicle": "Almost nothing about "Empire", created by Lee Daniels ("The Butler"), feels original, but after a few minutes, you will stop caring". 50 Cent stated via Twitter that he feels that "Empire" is being marketed by FOX in a way that resembles the marketing for the 2014 Starz series that he produces called "Power". Michael Logan of "TV Guide" described "Empire" as a "sudsy retooling of "King Lear" with hip hop as the backdrop" and praised Henson for her portrayal of the character Cookie.


title: Empire (2015 TV series)

text: The show's premiere ranked as Fox's highest-rated debut in three years. "Empire" was the first primetime broadcast series in at least 23 years to have its viewership increase week to week for its first five episodes. The show continued to increase its viewership with further episodes. Episodes of the show have also been heavily watched on Video on Demand and other streaming services. "Empire" surpassed "The Big Bang Theory" as the highest rated scripted program in the 2014–2015 television season. The first-season finale was also the highest rated debut season finale since May 2005, when "Grey's Anatomy" ended its first season. "Empire's" season one finale grew 82 percent from its series premiere, making it the show that has grown the most over the course of its first season since "Men in Trees" during the 2006–2007 season.


title: Underground Railroad

text: The Underground Railroad was a network of clandestine routes and safe houses established in the United States during the early- to mid-19th century. It was used by enslaved African Americans primarily to escape into free states and Canada. The network was assisted by abolitionists and others sympathetic to the cause of the escapees. The enslaved persons who risked escape and those who aided them are also collectively referred to as the "Underground Railroad". Various other routes led to Mexico, where slavery had been abolished, and to islands in the Caribbean that were not part of the slave trade. An earlier escape route running south toward Florida, then a Spanish possession (except 1763–1783), existed from the late 17th century until approximately 1790. However, the network now generally known as the Underground Railroad began in the late 18th century. It ran north and grew steadily until the Emancipation Proclamation was signed by President Abraham Lincoln. One estimate suggests that by 1850, approximately 100,000 enslaved people had escaped to freedom via the network.


title: Underground Railroad

text: For the enslaved people who "rode" the Underground Railroad, many of them considered Canada their final destination. An estimated 30,000 to 40,000 freedom seekers settled in Canada, half of whom came between 1850 and 1860. Others settled in free states in the north. Thousands of court cases for escaped enslaved were recorded between the Revolutionary War and the Civil War. Under the original Fugitive Slave Act of 1793, officials from free states were required to assist slaveholders or their agents who recaptured fugitives, but some state legislatures prohibited this. The law made it easier for slaveholders and slave catchers to capture African Americans and return them to slavery, and in some cases allowed them to enslave free blacks. It also created an eagerness among abolitionists to help enslaved people, resulting in the growth of anti-slavery societies and the Underground Railroad.


title: Underground Railroad

text: With heavy lobbying by Southern politicians, the Compromise of 1850 was passed by Congress after the Mexican–American War. It stipulated a more stringent Fugitive Slave Law; ostensibly, the compromise addressed regional problems by compelling officials of free states to assist slave catchers, granting them immunity to operate in free states. Because the law required sparse documentation to claim a person was a fugitive, slave catchers also kidnapped free blacks, especially children, and sold them into slavery. Southern politicians often exaggerated the number of escaped slaves and often blamed these escapes on Northerners interfering with Southern property rights. The law deprived people suspected of being slaves of the right to defend themselves in court, making it difficult to prove free status. Some northern states enacted personal liberty laws that made it illegal for public officials to capture or imprison former slaves. The perception that Northern States ignored the fugitive slave laws and regulations was a major justification for secession.


title: Underground Railroad

text: Underground Railroad routes went north to free states and Canada, to the Caribbean, into United States western territories, and Indian territories. Some freedom seekers (escaped slaves) travelled South into Mexico for their freedom.


title: Underground Railroad

text: Despite the thoroughfare's name, the escape network was neither literally underground nor a railroad. (The first literal underground railroad did not exist until 1863.) According to John Rankin, "It was so called because they who took passage on it disappeared from public view as really as if they had gone into the ground. After the fugitive slaves entered a depot on that road no trace of them could be found. They were secretly passed from one depot to another until they arrived at a destination where they were able to remain free." It was known as a railroad, using rail terminology such as stations and conductors, because that was the transportation system in use at the time.


title: Underground Railroad

text: The Underground Railroad did not have a headquarters or governing body, nor were there published guides, maps, pamphlets, or even newspaper articles. The Underground Railroad consisted of meeting points, secret routes, transportation, and safe houses, all of them maintained by abolitionist sympathizers and communicated by word of mouth, although there is also a report of a numeric code used to encrypt messages. Participants generally organized in small, independent groups; this helped to maintain secrecy. People escaping enslavement would move north along the route from one way station to the next. "Conductors" on the railroad came from various backgrounds and included free-born blacks, white abolitionists, the formerly enslaved (either escaped or manumitted), and Native Americans. Believing that slavery was "contrary to the ethics of Jesus", Christian congregations and clergy played a role, especially the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), Congregationalists, Wesleyan Methodists, and Reformed Presbyterians, as well as the anti-slavery branches of mainstream denominations which entered into schism over the issue, such as the Methodist Episcopal Church and the Baptists. The role of free blacks was crucial; without it, there would have been almost no chance for fugitives from slavery to reach freedom safely.


title: Underground Railroad

text: The Underground Railroad benefited greatly from the geography of the U.S.–Canada border: Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and most of New York were separated from Canada by water, over which transport was usually easy to arrange and relatively safe. The main route for freedom seekers from the South led up the Appalachians, Harriet Tubman going via Harpers Ferry, through the highly anti-slavery Western Reserve region of northeastern Ohio to the vast shore of Lake Erie, and then to Canada by boat. A smaller number, travelling by way of New York or New England, went via Syracuse (home of Samuel May) and Rochester, New York (home of Frederick Douglass), crossing the Niagara River or Lake Ontario into Canada. Those traveling via the New York Adirondacks, sometimes via the Black communities like Timbuctoo, New York, entered Canada via Ogdensburg, on the St. Lawrence River, or Lake Champlain (Joshua Young assisted). The western route, used by John Brown among others, led from Missouri west to free Kansas and north to free Iowa, then east via Chicago to the Detroit River.


title: Underground Railroad

text: Members of the Underground Railroad often used specific terms, based on the metaphor of the railway. For example:


title: Underground Railroad

text: The Big Dipper (whose "bowl" points to the North Star) was known as the drinkin' gourd. The Railroad was often known as the "freedom train" or "Gospel train", which headed towards "Heaven" or "the Promised Land", i.e., Canada.


title: Underground Railroad

text: William Still, sometimes called "The Father of the Underground Railroad", helped hundreds of slaves escape (as many as 60 a month), sometimes hiding them in his Philadelphia home. He kept careful records, including short biographies of the people, that contained frequent railway metaphors. He maintained correspondence with many of them, often acting as a middleman in communications between people who had escaped slavery and those left behind. He later published these accounts in the book "The Underground Railroad: Authentic Narratives and First-Hand Accounts" (1872), a valuable resource for historians to understand how the system worked and learn about individual ingenuity in escapes.


title: Underground Railroad

text: According to Still, messages were often encoded so that they could be understood only by those active in the railroad. For example, the following message, "I have sent via at two o'clock four large hams and two small hams", indicated that four adults and two children were sent by train from Harrisburg to Philadelphia. The additional word "via" indicated that the "passengers" were not sent on the usual train, but rather via Reading, Pennsylvania. In this case, the authorities were tricked into going to the regular location (station) in an attempt to intercept the runaways, while Still met them at the correct station and guided them to safety. They eventually escaped either further north or to Canada, where slavery had been abolished during the 1830s.


title: Underground Railroad

text: To reduce the risk of infiltration, many people associated with the Underground Railroad knew only their part of the operation and not of the whole scheme. "Conductors" led or transported the "passengers" from station to station. A conductor sometimes pretended to be enslaved to enter a plantation. Once a part of a plantation, the conductor would direct the runaways to the North. Enslaved people traveled at night, about to each station. They rested, and then a message was sent to the next station to let the station master know the escapees were on their way. They would stop at the so-called "stations" or "depots" during the day and rest. The stations were often located in basements, barns, churches, or in hiding places in caves.


title: Underground Railroad

text: The resting spots where the freedom seekers could sleep and eat were given the code names "stations" and "depots", which were held by "station masters". "Stockholders" gave money or supplies for assistance. Using biblical references, fugitives referred to Canada as the "Promised Land" or "Heaven" and the Ohio River, which marked the boundary between slave states and free states, as the "River Jordan".


title: Underground Railroad

text: The majority of freedom seekers that escaped from slavery did not have help from an abolitionist. Although there are stories of black and white abolitionists helping freedom seekers escape from slavery many escapes were unaided.


title: Underground Railroad

text: Other Underground Railroad escape routes for freedom seekers were maroon communities. Maroon communities were wetlands or marshes where escaped slaves established their own independent communities. Maroon communities in the United States were in Virginia called the Great Dismal Swamp, the maroon communities of the Black Seminole Indians in Florida, and others.


title: Underground Railroad

text: Although the freedom seekers sometimes traveled on boat or train, they usually traveled on foot or by wagon, sometimes lying down, covered with hay or similar products, in groups of one to three escapees. Some groups were considerably larger. Abolitionist Charles Turner Torrey and his colleagues rented horses and wagons and often transported as many as 15 or 20 people at a time. Free and enslaved black men occupied as mariners (sailors) helped enslaved people escape from slavery by providing a ride on their ship, providing information on the safest and best escape routes, and safe locations on land, and locations of trusted people for assistance. Enslaved African-American mariners had information about slave revolts occurring in the Caribbean, and relayed this news to enslaved people they had contact with in American ports. Free and enslaved African-American mariners assisted Harriet Tubman in her rescue missions. Black mariners provided to her information about the best escape routes, and helped her on her rescue missions.


title: Underground Railroad

text: Routes were often purposely indirect to confuse pursuers. Most escapes were by individuals or small groups; occasionally, there were mass escapes, such as with the "Pearl" incident. The journey was often considered particularly difficult and dangerous for women or children. Children were sometimes hard to keep quiet or were unable to keep up with a group. In addition, enslaved women were rarely allowed to leave the plantation, making it harder for them to escape in the same ways that men could. Although escaping was harder for women, some women were successful. One of the most famous and successful conductors (people who secretly traveled into slave states to rescue those seeking freedom) was Harriet Tubman, a woman who escaped slavery.


title: Underground Railroad

text: Due to the risk of discovery, information about routes and safe havens was passed along by word of mouth, although in 1896 there is a reference to a numerical code used to encrypt messages. Southern newspapers of the day were often filled with pages of notices soliciting information about fugitive slaves and offering sizable rewards for their capture and return. Federal marshals and professional bounty hunters known as slave catchers pursued freedom seekers as far as the Canada–US border.


title: Underground Railroad

text: Freedom seekers were not the only black people at risk from slave catchers. With demand for slaves high in the Deep South as cotton was planted, strong, healthy blacks in their prime working and reproductive years were seen and treated as highly valuable commodities. Both former slaves and free blacks were sometimes kidnapped and sold into slavery, as in the well-documented case of Solomon Northup, a New York-born free black who was kidnapped by Southern slavers while visiting Washington DC. "Certificates of Freedom," signed, notarized statements attesting to the free status of individual Blacks also known as free papers, could easily be destroyed or stolen, so they provided little protection.


title: Underground Railroad

text: Some buildings, such as the Crenshaw House in far-southeastern Illinois, are known sites where free blacks were sold into slavery, known as the "Reverse Underground Railroad".


title: Underground Railroad

text: Under the terms of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, when suspected fugitives were seized and brought to a special magistrate known as a commissioner, they had no right to a jury trial and could not testify on their own behalf. Technically, they were not accused of a crime. The marshal or private slave-catcher needed only to swear an oath to acquire a writ of "replevin" for the return of property.


title: Underground Railroad

text: Congress was dominated by Southern congressmen because the population of their states was bolstered by the inclusion of three-fifths of the number of slaves in population totals. They passed the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 because of frustration at having fugitives from slavery helped by the public and even official institutions outside the South. In some parts of the North, slave-catchers needed police protection.


title: Underground Railroad

text: British North America (present-day Canada) was a desirable destination, as its long border gave many points of access, it was farther from slave catchers, and beyond the reach of the United States' Fugitive Slave Acts. Further, slavery ended decades earlier in Canada than in the United States. Britain banned the institution of slavery in present-day Canada (and in most British colonies) in 1833, though the practice of slavery in Canada had effectively ended already early in the 19th century through case law, due to court decisions resulting from litigation on behalf of slaves seeking manumission.


title: Underground Railroad

text: Most former enslaved, reaching Canada by boat across Lake Erie and Lake Ontario, settled in Ontario. More than 30,000 people were said to have escaped there via the network during its 20-year peak period, although U.S. Census figures account for only 6,000. Numerous fugitives' stories are documented in the 1872 book "The Underground Railroad Records" by William Still, an abolitionist who then headed the Philadelphia Vigilance Committee.


title: Underground Railroad

text: Estimates vary widely, but at least 30,000 slaves, and potentially more than 100,000, escaped to Canada via the Underground Railroad. The largest group settled in Upper Canada (Ontario), called Canada West from 1841. Numerous Black Canadian communities developed in Southern Ontario. These were generally in the triangular region bounded by Niagara Falls, Toronto, and Windsor. Several rural villages made up mostly of people freed from slavery were established in Kent and Essex counties in Ontario.


title: Underground Railroad

text: Fort Malden, in Amherstburg, Ontario, was deemed the "chief place of entry" for escaped slaves seeking to enter Canada. The abolitionist Levi Coffin, who was known for aiding over 2,000 fugitives to safety, supported this choice. He described Fort Malden as "the great landing place, the principle terminus of the underground railroad of the west." After 1850, approximately thirty people a day were crossing over to Fort Malden by steamboat. The "Sultana" was one of the ships, making "frequent round trips" between Great Lakes ports. Its captain, C.W. Appleby, a celebrated mariner, facilitated the conveyance of several fugitives from various Lake Erie ports to Fort Malden. Other fugitives at Fort Walden had been assisted by William Wells Brown, himself someone who had escaped slavery. He found employment on a Lake Erie steamer and transported numerous fugitives from Cleveland to Ontario by way of Buffalo or Detroit. "It is well known", he tells us, "that a great number of fugitives make their escape to Canada, by way of Cleaveland. ...The friends of the slave, knowing that I would transport them without charge, never failed to have a delegation when the boat arrived at Cleaveland. I have sometimes had four or five on board at one time."


title: Underground Railroad

text: Another important destination was Nova Scotia, which was first settled by Black Loyalists during the American Revolution and then by Black Refugees during the War of 1812 ("see Black Nova Scotians"). Important Black settlements also developed in other parts of British North America (now parts of Canada). These included Lower Canada (present-day Quebec) and Vancouver Island, where Governor James Douglas encouraged Black immigration because of his opposition to slavery. He also hoped a significant Black community would form a bulwark against those who wished to unite the island with the United States.


title: Underground Railroad

text: Upon arriving at their destinations, many freedom seekers were disappointed, as life in Canada was difficult. While not at risk from slave catchers due to being in a different country, discrimination was still widespread . Many of the new arrivals had to compete with mass European immigration for jobs, and overt racism was common. For example, in reaction to Black Loyalists being settled in eastern Canada by the Crown, the city of Saint John, New Brunswick, amended its charter in 1785 specifically to exclude Blacks from practicing a trade, selling goods, fishing in the harbor, or becoming freemen; these provisions stood until 1870.


title: Underground Railroad

text: With the outbreak of the Civil War in the U.S., many black refugees left Canada to enlist in the Union Army. While some later returned to Canada, many remained in the United States. Thousands of others returned to the American South after the war ended. The desire to reconnect with friends and family was strong, and most were hopeful about the changes emancipation and Reconstruction would bring.


title: Underground Railroad

text: Since the 1980s, claims have arisen that quilt designs were used to signal and direct enslaved people to escape routes and assistance. According to advocates of the quilt theory, ten quilt patterns were used to direct enslaved people to take particular actions. The quilts were placed one at a time on a fence as a means of nonverbal communication to alert escaping slaves. The code had a dual meaning: first to signal enslaved people to prepare to escape, and second to give clues and indicate directions on the journey.


title: Underground Railroad

text: The quilt design theory is disputed. The first published work documenting an oral history source was in 1999, and the first publication of this theory is believed to be a 1980 children's book. Quilt historians and scholars of pre-Civil War (1820–1860) America have disputed this legend. There is no contemporary evidence of any sort of quilt code, and quilt historians such as Pat Cummings and Barbara Brackman have raised serious questions about the idea. In addition, Underground Railroad historian Giles Wright has published a pamphlet debunking the quilt code.


title: Underground Railroad

text: Similarly, some popular, nonacademic sources claim that spirituals and other songs, such as "Steal Away" or "Follow the Drinking Gourd", contained coded information and helped individuals navigate the railroad. They have offered little evidence to support their claims. Scholars tend to believe that while the slave songs may certainly have expressed hope for deliverance from the sorrows of this world, these songs did not present literal help for runaway slaves.


title: Underground Railroad

text: The Underground Railroad inspired cultural works. For example, "Song of the Free", written in 1860 about a man fleeing slavery in Tennessee by escaping to Canada, was composed to the tune of "Oh! Susanna". Every stanza ends with a reference to Canada as the land "where colored men are free". Slavery in Upper Canada (now Ontario) was outlawed in 1793; in 1819, John Robinson, the Attorney General of Upper Canada, declared that by residing in Canada, black residents were set free, and that Canadian courts would protect their freedom. Slavery in Canada as a whole had been in rapid decline after an 1803 court ruling, and was finally abolished outright in 1834.


title: Underground Railroad

text: When frictions between North and South culminated in the Civil War, many Black people, both enslaved and free, fought for the Union Army. Following Union victory in the Civil War, on December 6, 1865, the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution outlawed slavery except as punishment for a crime. Following its passage, in some cases the Underground Railroad operated in the opposite direction, as people who had escaped to Canada returned to the United States.


title: Underground Railroad

text: Frederick Douglass was a writer, statesman, and had escaped slavery. He wrote critically of the attention drawn to the ostensibly secret Underground Railroad in his seminal autobiography, "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave" (1845):


title: Underground Railroad

text: He went on to say that, although he honors the movement, he felt that the efforts at publicity serve more to enlighten the slave-owners than the slaves, making them more watchful and making it more difficult for future slaves to escape.


title: Underground Railroad

text: Beginning in the 16th century, Spaniards brought enslaved Africans to New Spain, including Mission Nombre de Dios in what would become the city of St. Augustine in Spanish Florida. Over time, free Afro-Spaniards took up various trades and occupations and served in the colonial militia. After King Charles II proclaimed Spanish Florida a safe haven for escaped slaves from British North America, they began escaping to Florida by the hundreds from as far north as New York. The Spanish established Fort Mose for the free Blacks in the St. Augustine area in 1738.


title: Underground Railroad

text: In 1806, enslaved people arrived at the Stone Fort in Nacogdoches, Texas seeking freedom. They arrived with a forged passport from a Kentucky judge. The Spanish refused to return them back to the United States. More freedom seekers traveled through Texas the following year.


title: Underground Railroad

text: Enslaved people were emancipated by crossing the border from the United States into Mexico, which was a Spanish colony into the nineteenth century. In the United States, enslaved people were considered property. That meant that they did not have rights to marry and they could be sold away from their partners. They also did not have rights to fight inhumane and cruel punishment. In New Spain, fugitive slaves were recognized as humans. They were allowed to join the Catholic Church and marry. They also were protected from inhumane and cruel punishment.


title: Underground Railroad

text: During the War of 1812, U.S. Army general Andrew Jackson invaded Spanish Florida in part because enslaved people had run away from plantations in the Carolinas and Georgia to Florida. Some of the runaways joined the Black Seminoles who later moved to Mexico. Mexico sent mixed signals, though, on their position against slavery. Sometimes they allowed enslaved people to returned to slavery and they allowed Americans to move into Spanish territorial property in order to populate the North, where the Americans would then establish cotton plantations, bringing enslaved people to work the land.


title: Underground Railroad

text: In 1829, Mexican president Vicente Guerrero (who was a mixed race black man) formally abolished slavery in Mexico. Freedom seekers from Southern plantations in the Deep South, particularly from Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas, escaped slavery and headed for Mexico. At that time, Texas was part of Mexico. The Texas Revolution, initiated in part to legalize slavery, resulted in the formation of the Republic of Texas in 1836. Following the Battle of San Jacinto, there were some enslaved people who withdrew from the Houston area with the Mexican army, seeing the troops as a means to escape slavery. When Texas joined the Union in 1845, it was a slave state and the Rio Grande became the international border with Mexico.


title: Underground Railroad

text: Pressure between free and slave states deepened as Mexico abolished slavery in 1837 and western states joined the Union as free states. As more free states were added to the Union, the lesser the influence of slave state representatives in Congress.


title: Underground Railroad

text: The Southern Underground Railroad went through slave states, lacking the abolitionist societies and the organized system of the north. People who spoke out against slavery were subject to mobs, physical assault, and being hanged. There were slave catchers who looked for runaway slaves. There were never more than a few hundred free blacks in Texas, which meant that free blacks did not feel safe in the state. The network to freedom was informal, random, and dangerous.


title: Underground Railroad

text: U.S. military forts, established along the Rio Grande border during the Mexican-American War of the 1840s, captured and returned fleeing enslaved people to their slaveholders.


title: Underground Railroad

text: The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 made it a criminal act to aid fleeing escaping enslaved people in free states. Similarly, the United States government wanted to enact a treaty with Mexico so that they would help capture and return bonds-people. Mexico, however, continued their practice to allow anyone that crossed their borders to be free. Slave catchers continued to cross the southern border into Mexico and illegally capture black people and return them to slavery. A group of slave hunters became the Texas Rangers.


title: Underground Railroad

text: Thousands of freedom seekers traveled along a network from the southern United States to Texas and ultimately Mexico. Southern enslaved people generally traveled across "unforgiving country" on foot or horseback while pursued by lawmen and slave hunters. Some stowed away on ferries bound for a Mexican port from New Orleans, Louisiana and Galveston, Texas. There were some who transported cotton to Brownsville, Texas on wagons and then crossed into Mexico at Matamoros.


title: Underground Railroad

text: Many traveled through North Carolina, Arkansas, Alabama, Louisiana, or Mississippi towards Texas and ultimately Mexico. People fled slavery from Indian Territory (now Oklahoma). Black Seminoles traveled on a southwestern route from Florida into Mexico.


title: Underground Railroad

text: Going overland meant that the last 150 miles or so were traversed through the difficult and extremely hot terrain of the Nueces Strip located between the Nueces River and the Rio Grande. There was little shade and a lack of potable water in this brush country. Escapees were more likely to survive the trip if they had a horse and a gun.


title: Underground Railroad

text: The National Park Service identified a route from Natchitoches, Louisiana to Monclova, Mexico in 2010 that is roughly the southern Underground Railroad path. It is also believed that the "El Camino Real de los Tejas" was a path for freedom. It was made a National Historic Trail by President George W. Bush in 2004.


title: Underground Railroad

text: Some journeyed on their own without assistance, and others were helped by people along the southern Underground Railroad. Assistance included guidance, directions, shelter, and supplies.


title: Underground Railroad

text: Black people, black and white couples, and anti-slavery German immigrants provided support, but most of the help came from Mexican laborers. So much so that enslavers came to distrust any Mexican, and a law was enacted in Texas that forbade Mexicans from talking to enslaved people. Mexican migrant workers developed relationships with enslaved black workers whom they worked with. They offered guidance, such as what it would be like to cross the border, and empathy. Having realized the ways in which Mexicans were helping enslaved people to escape, slaveholders and residents of Texan towns pushed people out of the town, whipped them in public, or lynched them.


title: Underground Railroad

text: Some border officials helped enslaved people crossing into Mexico. In Monclova, Mexico a border official took up a collection in the town for a family in need of food, clothing, and money to continue on their journey south and out of reach of slave hunters. Once they crossed the border, some Mexican authorities helped former enslaved people from being returned to the United States by slave hunters.


title: Underground Railroad

text: Freedom seekers that were taken on ferries to Mexican ports were aided by Mexican ship captains, one of whom was caught in Louisiana and indicted for helping enslaved people escape.


title: Underground Railroad

text: Knowing the repercussions of running away or being caught helping someone runaway, people were careful to "cover their tracks" and public and personal records about freedom seekers are scarce. The are records in greater supply by the people trying to promote slavery or catch enslaved people who have run away. More than 2,500 escapes are documented by the Texas Runaway Slave Project at Stephen F. Austin State University.


title: Underground Railroad

text: Advertisements were placed in newspapers offering rewards for the return of their "property". Slave catchers traveled through Mexico. There were Black Seminoles, or "Los Mascogos" who lived in northern Mexico who provided armed resistance.


title: Underground Railroad

text: Sam Houston, president of the Republic of Texas, was the slaveholder to Tom who ran away. He headed to Texas and once there he enlisted in the Mexican military.


title: Underground Railroad

text: One enslaved man was branded with the letter "R" on each side of his cheek after a failed attempt to escape slavery. He tried again in the winter of 1819, leaving the cotton plantation of his enslaver on horseback. With four others, they traveled south west to Mexico at the risk of being attacked by hostile Native Americans, apprehended by slave catchers, or being attacked by "horse-eating alligators".


title: Underground Railroad

text: Many people did not make it to Mexico. In 1842, a Mexican man and a black woman left Jackson County, Texas on two horses, but they were caught at the Lavaca River. The wife, an enslaved woman, was valuable to her owner so she was returned to slavery. Her husband, possibly a farm laborer or an indentured servant, was immediately lynched.


title: Underground Railroad

text: Freedom seekers changed their names in Mexico. They married into Mexican families and relocated further south of the American-Mexican border. All of these factors makes it hard to trace the whereabouts of the former enslaved people. A database at Stephen F. Austin State University has a database of runaway slave advertisements as part of The Texas Runaway Slave Project. The Works Progress Administration during the Great Depression initiated a Federal Writers' Project to document slave narratives, including those who settled in Mexico. One of them was Felix Haywood who found freedom when he crossed the Rio Grande.


title: Underground Railroad

text: Two families, the Webbers and the Jacksons, lived along the Rio Grande and helped people escape slavery. The husbands were white and the wives were black women who had been formerly enslaved. It is not known if Nathaniel Jackson purchased the freedom of Matilda Hicks and her family, but in the early 1860s they moved to Hidalgo county, where they settled and lived as a family. He was a white southerner and she was an enslaved woman, who had been childhood sweethearts in Alabama. He was the son of her slaveholder, who helped a group of seven families in 1857 and others cross into Mexico.