Underground Railroad

The Underground Railroad was a secret network of routes and safe houses in the United States. Black slaves used the Underground Railroad to escape from slavery. It was created in the early 1800s, and was at its biggest between 1850 and 1860.Vox, Lisa, "How Did Slaves Resist Slavery?" , African-American History, About.com, Retrieved July 17, 2011. The term “Underground Railroad” also describes the abolitionists, both black and white, free and enslaved, who helped the slaves along the way. 

Routes on the Underground Railroad led to free states, Canada, Mexico and overseas."Purpose and Background". Taking the Train to Freedom. National Park Service. Retrieved July 17, 2011 While traveling along these routes, slaves received help from abolitionists and those who had sympathy to their cause. British North America was another popular stopping point. Slavery was not allowed there, and its long border gave many points of access. More than 30,000 people were said to have escaped there using the network at its best, although U.S. Census statistics shows only 6,000."From slavery to freedom" , The Grapevine, pp. 3–5.  

One statistic suggests that by 1850, about 100,000 slaves had escaped to freedom by the "Railroad". 

The Underground Railroad fugitives' stories are recorded in the Underground Railroad Records.

Related pages
Harriet Tubman

References



Category:19th century in the United States
Category:African-American history
Category:Slavery in the United States