US History I: 1763-1877; 1301.12 “Freedoms Trail” Resisting Slavery October 27, 2014 Cutler Quirante Dr. Gwinyai P. Muzorewa Abstract The author will investigate the Underground Railroad’s work to resist against slavery during the Civil War. The author will collaborate on the dealings of people who were leaders of the Underground Railroad, U.S. political stance on slavery, and the actions that were carried out for the cause of freedom. The authors main focus of the paper will be centered on operations of the Underground Railroad, members involved, struggles they went through to free enslaved people. The writer will go into detail of the Underground Railroad leaders operations. The presentation will be based on sources from an online database jstor.org. Thus, this paper will be about resistance against slavery, and the leaders of the Underground Railroad and their efforts to abolish slavery. Introduction United States African Americans have a very interesting history with the country. They have been enslaved, abused, treated with inequality, and subsequently freed. During the years 1861-1865there was a lot of political argument about freedom of the slaves. This time period is better known as the Civil War. In 1861 the president at the time, was newly elected Abraham Lincoln and pushed for the movement of freedom for the enslaved. The country was thus being torn into two sides, the North and the South, because of the dispute about freedom for African Americans.
The African American experience is one that is quite different from other racial/ ethnic groups. The majority of the first African American came over, unwillingly, on ships from various African countries. They were brought to America by white, European settlers to be used as slaves in an order to plant and harvest their crops and make money for the white man. This racial group was treated as if they were property and not people. However, with the ending of the American Civil War, African Americans gained freedom, freedom that not all white American were quite ready to handle. After gaining their freedom came the need for education, jobs and suffrage rights. Now in America this racial group has come a long way, having elected its first African American present for two terms, yet still there are many issues that are very prevalent. This racial group has been fighting their way to equality since the birth of this nation. African Americans have experienced an array of conflict, violence, stereotypes, prejudice acts, and discrimination against them throughout their history in America.
Known to many who lived in the 1800’s as merely a mystery, the Underground Railroad secretly had a major effect on all people during the time the covert operation existed. Although the Underground Railroad may not have been extremely effective in the number of slaves it led to freedom, it did have a major impact on the Civil War, the morale of people fighting for emancipation, and the thinking of all people during the 19th century. The Underground Railroad was a true agent of social change, despite many people’s beliefs that the Underground Railroad was simply a symbolic effort that had no major effect.
The Underground Railroad was one of the main attributes to the accomplishment of abolishing slavery. The Underground railroad was put together by runaway slaves and abolitionists; one of the main abolitionists was Harriet Tubman. Everyone knows who Tubman is but another one of the main, less known abolitionists was a man named William Still. William Still was an African American abolitionist, who was known as the father of the Underground Railroad. He was president of the Vigilance Committee of the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society, Still was an active part in the movement against slavery, and equal rights for all races.
The Gateway to Freedom is an enticing novel that gives further knowledge of racial discrimination and the social inequality of blacks at the time of slavery and how the Underground Railroad combatted this through the different committees and activists of the time. This essay will focus on how the Underground Railroad affected family, economy and religion- the social institutions, those who operated the Underground Railroad were diverse and have different reason for following the abolitionist movement, and not all the committees are made equally.
African Americans were a very important addition to the American Civil War such as fighting and spying for both the north and the south sides. The American Civil War was a war fought in the United States between the North and South states. The war was from 1861-1865 and was because the South wanted to establish itself as a separate nation. The northern states were called the Union and the southern states were called the Confederate. Between the north and south states were the Border States, which did not belong to either of the sides. The Border States included Maryland, Delaware, West Virginia, Kentucky and Missouri. In the north, slavery did not exist but the south was the opposite. In the war, the north and south states fought against each other while the Border States were neutral. Before the war and during the war, African Americans were treated very unfairly compared to white people. This essay will examine how African Americans were treated before, during and after the Civil War.
President John F. Kennedy once said, “If we cannot now end our differences, at least we can help make the world safe for diversity.” This quote explains how one person will never be the same as another. Furthermore, if we all can accept each other’s differences, then our world will be safer for everyone. Salva was a Sudanese refugee who walked thousands of miles to reach safety from the civil war in Sudan. Underground railroad slaves were African Americans who escaped working for wealthy slave owners to find safety, and obtain freedom. Despite the different identities between Salva and an underground railroad slave, they share a connection of longing for freedom.
During the first half of the nineteenth century, slavery was one of the most controversial topics in the United States of America, where the questions of whether or not slavery should be abolished or permitted sparked much debate and tension between the North and South – that ultimately lead to the Civil War. The Underground Railroad was established in the mid-1800s as an informational system of clandestine that aided slaves in escaping towards the Northern States and Canada through secret pathways, routes and safe-houses. The system was referred to as the Underground Railroad because of the rapid and secretive way in which slaves were able to escape - where they mostly traveled during the night using the North Star as a map and hid away
The Underground Railroad is infamous due to motivations that aren‘t completely uplifting for the United States‘ image during. This was one of many hardcore blemishes for American History. Yes, slavery was actually everywhere, it wasn’t always looked at seriously. Example, a slave may have ran away and his owner may make a comment, “he must have gone off on an underground railroad.”(Abdur-Rahim) Although this comment seems harmless, it was said in order make a mockery of the Underground Railroad movement. This comment normally would be followed by possible whippings of any slaves associated with the runaway. The North’s
From 1800-1865, 100,000 slaves escaped from the Underground Railroad due to the harsh conditions they faced throughout their lives. The underground railroad was a successful way for many former slaves to become free. The underground railroad was not actually a railroad. It consisted of secret routes, safe houses, and other locations. The escaped slaves would hide out in churches, houses, barns and other places that had extra rooms for hiding. These locations were provided by the freed African Americans and whites that were against slavery. Numerous of fugitives failed to escape due to the search dogs and the townspeople searching for them because they were considered “dangerous”. The slaves that did escape went to Canada, Mexico, or anywhere else where they could be free and not live in slavery. A great number of people were involved with the underground railroad; concluding some whites and Native Americans. However the majority of people helping the fugitives escape were freed African Americans. Helping people escape the underground railroad was a dangerous job innumerable conductors had to live in constant fear of being caught by the local police and townspeople. Due to the slave trade there was a constant movement of slaves being brought into the United States and slaves escaping.
The Underground Railroad was an innovated organization whose main goal was to free slaves. This amazing system was founded in the 18th century, by a man names Levi Coffin. It used as an escape for any slaves in the South. . The courageous people within the organization help to shape a new America. The course of this organization ultimately changed the course of American history. This legendary organization was known for many things, but in retrospect it help spark the civil war. To have a full understanding of it’s massive affects of American culture, one must start at its beginnings. Understanding the stories and it people that helped millions to gain America most prized passion, freedom.
Underground railroads were a network of secret routes and safe houses used during the 19th century slaves from African descent that were in the United States, and wanted escape to the free states and Canada. The safe houses located on these routes were run by abolitionists and people that were sympathetic towards slaves. The Underground Railroad reached its height during the 1850s and 1860s. It’s difficult to determine how many people actually traveled the routes and made it to freedom, but it is estimated that somewhere around 100,000 slaves journeyed along these paths. It is unfortunate however, that not many people of this 100,000 made it to freedom. There were just around 5,000 recorded cases of runaway slaves, and only about 1,000 a year made it to safety during the peak of this time. The lives of many slaves were horrendous during the early America’s, so many of them sought refuge in the Underground Railroad where they dealt with even dirtier, more dangerous conditions. However, this helped thousands of slaves successfully reach freedom and helped create one of the biggest slave movements of the 1800s.
Although the use of the Underground Railroad had many advantages, it also shared a number of disadvantages. During the late 1700’s, many runaway slaves risked their lives and safety when taking the option of using the Underground Railroad system. Not only was it a dangerous journey for themselves, but also for the conductor who lead them to freedom. If the fugitives were caught, they were returned to the plantations and faced many consequences, but consequences for the conductors most times lead to death. When taking the risk of being possibly captured, runaway slaves would have done anything for their freedom, even if it put their health and well-being into jeopardy. In most cases, many slaves would die due to starvation or hypothermia during the dangerous journey in harsh conditions.
The Underground Railroad is one of the most important things created in black history. It was secret passages, and safe houses, places used to help people escape from slavery, before slavery was abolished after the Civil War. The Underground railroad was one thing that was very important leading up to the Civil War. We would not still be talking about this topic if it was not important. Black history is filled with hate, suffering, and fighting for equality. The Underground Railroad gave some slaves sense of hope; hope that they could escape the tragedy in their lives, and to live a better one. So in what ways did the Underground Railroad impact slave-owners, and slaves themselves? What kinds of people did the Underground Railroad affect? Also, why was getting to the North so important and how were fugitive slaves helped?
During the 19th century, African American slaves used various ways to show resistance to the harsh slavery from their masters. They used three measures to rebel against slavery; they ran away, rebelled against slavery and performed acts of resistance like slowing their down work. Among the three measures, running away was the only measure that helped them escape for their freedom. The runaway slaves escaped to a nearby forest and others visited their spouse or relatives on other plantations. This did not grant them the freedom they way looking for and hence they looked for other means to escape. During the same period, the Underground Railroad occurred and it was more effective in helping slaves escape. The Underground Railroad was basically
The Underground Railroad is a fictional novel written by Colson Whitehead that was first published in 2016. This is WHitehead’s sixth novel he has written. However, this book is his first one to have won a Pulitzer prize award. I chose this book due to its connection with the slave time period and, after reading the novel, I would encourage others to read this novel as well. Colson creates an escapist approach to explore the legacy of American racial trauma. The Underground Railroad provides many thematic topics such as subtle forms of oppression, freedom, and the roots of violence. Colson uses symbolized references in his novel related to the Bible, the underground railroads, the Declaration of Independence, and the Gulliver’s Travels.