page_title: Harriet Forten Purvis
section_title: Underground Railroad
hierarchical_section_title: Harriet Forten Purvis / Activist / Underground Railroad
caption_attribution_description: English: "Routes of the Underground Railroad, 1830-1865." Whole map of the underground railroad. The Underground Railroad was not an actual railroad, but a network of secret routes and safe houses used by 19th-century black slaves in the United States to escape to free states and Canada.
context_page_description: Harriet Forten Purvis was an African-American abolitionist and first generation suffragist. With her mother and sisters, she formed the first biracial women's abolitionist group, the Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society. She hosted anti-slavery events at her home and with her husband Robert Purvis ran an Underground Railroad station. Robert and Harriet also founded the Gilbert Lyceum. She fought against segregation and for the right for blacks to vote after the Civil War.
context_section_description: Harriet and Robert, called the father of the Underground Railroad for his founding of Philadelphia's Vigilance Committee, began a station in their home at 9th and Lombard Street in Philadelphia. The situation became dangerous in central Philadelphia and the family moved to a farm in rural Byberry, Philadelphia in 1843 or 1844. They assisted about 9,000 runaway slaves along their journey to Canada. Slaves were hidden from authorities in their Byberry house through a trap door that installed in the floor by Robert. Harriet hosted meetings of abolitionists in her house and was a leader of the Female Vigilant Society, which provided monies for transportation and clothing to the travelers.
caption: Map of Underground Railroad routes
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