There are no bonds so strong as those which

are formed by suffering together. — Harriet Jacobs, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, 1861

OHIO HISTORY CONNECTION LIBRARY OF CONGRESS PHILADELPHIA: PORTER & COATES GILDER LEHRMAN INSTITUTE

Left: People like John and Jean Rankin in Ohio aided thousands of freedom seekers 

from 1825–65. Left center: The 1854 Boston slave riot inflamed feelings against 

slavery in Massachusetts. Right center: Very active in the abolitionist movement, 

William Still was a free African American in Philadelphia who aided runaways and 

helped reunite families. Right: A broadside endorsed by Frederick Douglass and 

other leaders urged African Americans to enlist.

The most unrestricted route to freedom finally 

opened up with the Emancipation Proclamation 

on January 1, 1863. Enslaved African Americans 

sought refuge with the advancing Union Army 

and many of the men were recruited as soldiers.

As the nation extended west in the early 1800s, 

demand for enslaved laborers increased. Running away was a common strategy to escape. 

Harrowing stories involve solitary journeys 

through dark swamps, deceptive disguises in 

broad daylight, and hidden compartments in 

wagons. Most runaways fled on their own, but 

some found liberty aided by family, fellow freedom seekers, and abolitionists. Few acts of 

flight involved operatives venturing into the 

South to assist freedom seekers in their escape. 

As individual acts of self-emancipation and 

resistance increased, a compromise meant to 

maintain the Union helped fuel antislavery. 

Tensions grew as many northerners opposed 

the controversial Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 

which enforced the capture and return of 

refugees. Attempts to assist runaways increased 

and led to organized networks of ”agents” and 

”conductors” aiding ”passengers” along an 

expanding, but unseen, Underground Railroad.

TOP: MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY

CENTER: WEST VIRGINIA DIVISION OF CULTURE AND HISTORY

BOTTOM: RAUNER LIBRARY COLLECTION

ABOVE LEFT: NPS / RICHARD SCHLECHT 

Top: An iron yoke collar cut from the neck of a 

young enslaved New Orleans plantation laborer 

who had escaped from her owner. Center: iron 

shackles with screw locks. Bottom: An undated 

broadside from an abolitionist community posted 

to warn fleeing freedom seekers—viewed either as 

a call to arms or a notice to help hide runaways.

Auction platforms enabled inspection by bidders. Enslaved family members suffered separation.

Treatments varied, but were not 

always the reason to run away. 

The desire for freedom innate 

in all humans provided an undeniable incentive to flee. This 

common yearning refuted that 

enslavement was the natural status of people of African descent. 

the act could be gut­wrenching 

as children were torn away from 

their parents and entire families 

were split apart forever. Captives 

in domestic situations also suffered emotionally from their 

unbearable lack of freedom. Even 

learning to read and write could 

result in merciless punishment.

America’s economic success from 

the colonial era to the Civil War 

depended on the institution of 

slavery. Enslavement kept people 

of African descent toiling on 

plantations and laboring in the 

homes and businesses of their 

owners. Such repression existed 

almost everywhere in the United 

States, including the North.

Bondage came in many forms for 

those enslaved in America. The 

inability to escape beating, branding, and brutal plantation work 

proved spiritually oppressive in 

itself. Being sold at auction was 

not only personally demeaning—

Emotional and Physical Freedom Denied

LEFT: FREDERICK DOUGLASS / METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART; BACKGROUND: ENSLAVED PEOPLE ESCAPING ON THE EASTERN SHORE OF MARYLAND AND NORTH STAR NEWSPAPER, 1848 / LOC; SLEEPING BEAR DUNES NL / NPS NIGHT SKIES / BOB MEADOWS; RIGHT: HARRIET TUBMAN / LOC - SMITHSONIAN MUSEUM OF AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY

Written to one of America’s most well-known 

freedom fighters, Harriet Tubman, these 

words also pay tribute to countless others 

whose personal desire for liberty and 

individual resistance to enslavement resulted 

in a scattered migration that shaped history.

Their escape and flight, their resourcefulness 

and skill, created the nation’s first Civil Rights 

Movement—a many-layered wave of social 

change known as the Underground Railroad. 

Allies and Opportunities

The midnight sky and the 

silent stars have been the 

witnesses to your 

devotion to freedom and 

of your heroism. 

Frederick Douglass, August 29, 1868

National Underground Railroad

Network to Freedom

National Park Service

U.S. Department of the Interior
✩GPO:2017—741-143 New in 2017

Printed on recycled paper.

A Self-Emancipation Movement

No single site or route completely reflects and 

characterizes the Underground Railroad. The story 

and resources involve networks and regions rather 

than individual locations and trails.

Born enslaved, Underground 

Railroad agent Mary Ellen Pleasant 

fled Boston to avoid prosecution 

under the Fugitive Slave Law of 

1850. She opened a boardinghouse 

in San Francisco during the Gold 

Rush and helped African American 

freedom seekers in both California 

and Canada. Pleasant supported 

abolitionist John Brown and advo

cated for civil rights and women’s 

rights until her death in 1904.

-

Waterways served as primary routes to free

dom for runaways while the Great Dismal 

Swamp provided refuge for enslaved African 

Americans. Today the Great Dismal Swamp 

Canal offers opportunities for remembrance, 

reflection, and recreation.

CAMDEN COUNTY TDA/BYRD’S EYE PHOTOGRAPHY

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Personal Journeys of Courage, Commitment, and Trust

New York-born Anthony D. Allen 

fled slavery at age 24 for a life at 

sea. He eventually purchased his 

freedom and settled in Hawaii. 

Steward to Kamehameha the Great, 

Allen married a Hawaiian woman 

and acquired six acres in Waikiki. 

The successful business and prop

erty owner left a fortune to his 

family upon his death in 1835.

-

Lewis Hayden was born to 

enslavement in Kentucky. In the 

fall of 1844 he met Methodist 

minister Calvin Fairbank and Delia 

Webster, a teacher from Vermont, 

who helped Hayden and his 

family escape to Ohio, and later 

to Canada. Fairbank and Webster 

were arrested upon their return to 

Kentucky and freed when Hayden 

raised money for their release.

As the light-skinned daughter of 

an enslaved mixed race woman 

and her white owner, Ellen Craft 

passed as a white man in male 

clothing to escape by steamboat 

and train from Georgia to Pennsylva

nia with husband William in 1848.

-

The Underground Railroad was not defined by geo

graphic boundaries. Anti-slavery activities and individu

al acts of liberation occurred wherever sentiments grew 

against bondage. People of African descent migrated in 

every direction away from captivity to free states, 

Spanish Florida, the Caribbean, Canada, and Mexico. 

Some escaped to ”maroon” communities that were ei

ther remote or concealed near plantations where family 

members lived.

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Neither underground nor railroad, the self-emancipa

tion movement borrowed terms from the railroad, 

a new form of transportation at that time, to describe 

roles in the network. Word of mouth and coded mes

sages guided refugees, not maps. Modes of trans

portation varied from foot and wagon to boat and 

actual train. Freedom seekers used various routes and 

traveled up to 20 miles each night, stopping to rest at 

”stations” during the day.

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IMAGE FROM ”THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD FROM SLAVERY 

TO FREEDOM” BY WILBUR HENRY SIEBERT

COURTESY OF OHIO STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY

AFRICAN AMERICAN DIVERSITY CULTURAL CENTER HAWAII

SAN FRANCISCO HISTORY CENTER, S.F. PUBLIC LIBRARY

An increasing grass roots 

effort by communities and 

descendants across the coun

try to preserve their Under

ground Railroad heritage 

helped lead to the enactment 

of the National Underground 

Railroad Network to Freedom 

Act in 1998.

-

-

Today the National Park Ser

vice collaborates with com

munity initiatives around the 

country through the National 

Underground Railroad Net

work to Freedom Program 

(NTF). Work to coordinate 

preservation and education 

efforts nationwide helps 

integrate local historic sites, 

museums, and interpretive 

programs associated with 

the Underground Railroad 

into a mosaic of community, 

regional, and national 

stories.

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Historic places, educational 

or interpretive programs, 

and research facilities associ

ated with the Underground 

Railroad can belong to a net

work of members eligible to 

use the NTF’s unique logo 

and receive technical assis

tance. Members that are open 

to the public are eligible to 

participate in the National 

Park Service Passport Program. 

-

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More Information 

National Underground Railroad 

Network to Freedom Program 

National Park Service

4068 Golden Hill Road 

Church Creek, Maryland 21622 

410-221-2290 

www.nps.gov/ugrr

To learn more about national parks 

and National Park Service programs 

in America’s communities, visit 

www.nps.gov.

National Underground Railroad 

Network to Freedom Program

www.nps.gov/ugrr

On St. Croix, escape from slavery 

and the cruelty enforced at Fort 

Christiansvaern made many flee to 

Puerto Rico. In 1759 enslaved Afri

cans and free agricultural workers 

planned a rebellion against plan

tation owners on the island. Once 

exposed, the plot resulted in one 

suicide and the brutal torture and 

execution of 13 others. 

ORIGINAL ILLUSTRATION BY JOSIAH WEDGWOOD

-

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Why do you want 

your freedom?

Because

I am a man.

—Lewis Hayden to Calvin Fairbank

A National Network of Communities and Commemoration

-

The NTF also facilitates 

communication and network

ing between researchers and 

interested individuals, and 

helps develop statewide or

ganizations for preserving 

and researching Under

ground Railroad sites.

-

-

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The National Underground 

Railroad Network to Free

dom Program honors and 

commemorates the people 

of the nation’s first Civil 

Rights Movement, their de

scendants, and all those 

who continue to explore 

and uncover even more selfemancipation stories.

-

-

Today this important net

work continues to unite 

people across racial, gender, 

religious, and class lines to 

promote social change.

-

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Some freedom seekers relied on hidden safe houses 

and diverse participants that challenged the notions 

of racism and sexism. Organized and loose systems of 

support involved enslaved people and operatives of 

African descent, and men and women motivated by 

moral, religious, economic, and political beliefs. Those 

who provided help performed acts of resistance—in 

their own way—along the many routes to freedom.