Journeys to Freedom

Joan A. Nelson

PSS_G5_NA9_LR_OL_9781486925452.indd 1 2017-11-28 12:56 PM Journeys to Freedom

Joan A. Nelson

Series Editor Mark Pearcy

PSS_G5_NA9_LR_OL_9781486925452.indd 1 2017-11-28 12:48 PM Images: Cover: monument–Battle Creek CVB/CC; [blue background–CHOATphotographer; bottom texture–benjamas154] Shutterstock.com; 1: Harriet Tubman–PhotographbyHBLindsley/LibraryofCongress; [4: Abraham Lincoln–Everett Historical; background–Tashal] Shutterstock.com; cotton plantation–Bridgeman Art Library London/SuperStock; 5: Confederacy White House–Mccallk69/CC; 6: Fort Sumter–© North Wind Picture Archives] Shutterstock.com; 7: map–Library of Congress/CC; 8: Underground Railroad tunnel–Cheriss May/NurPhoto/Sipa USA/Newscom; 9: runaways– Everett Historical/Shutterstock.com; 10: fugitive–Library of Congress/CC; [engraving–Everett Historical; 12: John Thompson–Everett Historical; paper–freeart; 13: Henry Brown–Everett Historical; 14: American flag–Leigh Prather; Frances Harper–Harper/The New York Public Library; John Rankin–Public Domain; 15: quilt–vastateparksstaff/CC; [William Still–Everett Historical; background–RoyStudioEU] Shutterstock.com; 16: Harriet Tubman–Macon Telegraph/Getty Images; 17: Harriet Tubman–NJ/Bettman Corbis; 18: map–Interim Archives/Getty Images; 19: Freedmen’s Bureau–Everett Historical/Shutterstock.com; 20: reward poster–PF-(bygone1)/Alamy Stock Photo; 21: film still–Entertainment Pictures/Keystone Press; certificate–Bettmann/Getty Images; 23: Abraham Lincoln–Alamy/Granger Historical Picture Archive; 24: Emancipation Proclamation–Everett Historical/Shutterstock.com; 25: recruitment poster– Public Domain; 26: medal–Tim Evanson/CC; 27: soldiers–Library of Congress

PSS_G5_NA9_LR_OL_9781486925452.indd 2 2017-11-28 12:48 PM Contents

4 A Nation Divided

8 The Underground Railroad

12 Dangers of the Underground Railroad

22 Joining the Fight

28 Glossary / Index

3

PSS_G5_NA9_LR_OL_9781486925452.indd 3 2017-11-28 12:48 PM A Nation Divided

When Abraham Lincoln was elected president on November 6, 1860, the Southern states became very worried. They believed Lincoln was an abolitionist and that he would make Abraham Lincoln slavery illegal throughout the nation. was president from March 1861 The Southern states depended on to April 1865. slavery to maintain their economies. Their wealth came from cotton and tobacco grown by enslaved people of African descent. The enslaved people were made to work for free. According to the laws in many states, enslaved African Americans were considered property. They could be sold or killed, just like livestock.

This painting shows enslaved African American people picking cotton in Mississippi.

4

PSS_G5_NA9_LR_OL_9781486925452.indd 4 2017-11-28 12:48 PM They Call It Quits

Unhappy with Lincoln’s election, on December 20, 1860, South Carolina became the first state to secede from the United States. Ten more states soon followed: Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas, Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina, and Tennessee. These states formed the Confederate States of America, or the Confederacy. The Confederacy’s first capital was Montgomery, Alabama.

The First White House of the Confederacy was built in Montgomery, Alabama.

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PSS_G5_NA9_LR_OL_9781486925452.indd 5 2017-11-28 12:48 PM The First Battle

On April 12, 1861, the Battle of Fort Sumter broke out. Major Robert Anderson, a Union commander in South Carolina, had refused to hand over Fort Sumter to the newly established Confederate States of America. After a standoff that had lasted for four months, the Confederate Army opened fire. People across Charleston, South Carolina, clamored for the best view of the raging battle.

When rain fell that evening, the sky over Charleston Harbor was dark with smoke. The Battle of Fort Sumter was the beginning of the American Civil War.

Confederate batteries around Charleston Harbor open fire on Fort Sumter. 6

PSS_G5_NA9_LR_OL_9781486925452.indd 6 2017-11-28 12:48 PM War Is Declared

Shortly after the Battle of Fort Sumter, President Lincoln called for 75,000 volunteers to fight the Confederate Army. Lincoln’s main concern was preserving the nation. The resulting Civil War became America’s bloodiest conflict. It was finally won in 1865 by the Union. Soon afterward, the Thirteenth Amendment, which abolished slavery in the United States, was added to the Constitution.

However, enslaved people and abolitionists had been fighting for freedom long before the Civil War. One part of their fight was the Underground Railroad.

Union states

Confederate states

Montgomery, Alabama 1861

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PSS_G5_NA9_LR_OL_9781486925452.indd 7 2017-11-28 12:48 PM The Underground Railroad

The Underground Railroad began operation in the early 1800s. It helped a great number of enslaved people escape to freedom.

The Underground Railroad was not a railroad with trains and rails, nor was it actually underground. It was a loose network of safe houses and hiding places that included caves dug out along riverbanks and false floors in barns. “Underground” meant that it was a secret.

The tunnels in Carter Memorial Church in Baltimore, Maryland, were used by enslaved people fleeing to freedom.

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PSS_G5_NA9_LR_OL_9781486925452.indd 8 2017-11-28 12:48 PM An artist’s rendition of enslaved African Americans fleeing from Maryland to Delaware

The Code

The operation was a “railroad” because railway terms were used as code words. For example:

Code Meaning • Passengers • Baggage Enslaved people attempting escape • Cargo • Freight • Conductors Guides assisting runaways along • Operators escape routes • Engineers • Stations Hiding places, meeting points, • Depots or safe houses along escape routes People providing money, food, shelter, • Stockholders and clothing along the routes People organizing and coordinating • Ticket agents escapes • Patty rollers Slave catchers • Paddy rollers • Stationmasters Owners of safe houses

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PSS_G5_NA9_LR_OL_9781486925452.indd 9 2017-11-28 12:48 PM This image was usually used on posters offering rewards for the capture of runaways.

The Scope

Between 1810 and 1860, an estimated 100,000 enslaved people found freedom using the Underground Railroad. Many fugitives fled to the Northern free states, such as New York and Ohio, while others went to Mexico.

About 30,000 of those who fled are said to have escaped to Canada. Today, many places in the Canadian province of Ontario have heritage sites to celebrate the history of the Underground Railroad.

10

PSS_G5_NA9_LR_OL_9781486925452.indd 10 2017-11-28 12:48 PM This is an engraving from the 1800s of enslaved people attempting to escape from Hampton to go to Fort Monroe, in Virginia, in August 1861.

Underground Railroad monument in Battle Creek, Michigan 11

PSS_G5_NA9_LR_OL_9781486925452.indd 11 2017-11-28 12:48 PM Dangers of the Underground Railroad

The law was against those who participated in the Underground Railroad. It was dangerous for anyone to try to free enslaved people.

Participants

Many groups of people participated in the operation of the railroad. The conductors who guided runaways to safety were made up of freeborn African Americans, white abolitionists, church clergy and churchgoers, American Indians, Quakers, and many more.

In 1857, John Thompson escaped from slavery by riding on the top of railroad cars by night and hiding in the woods by day.

12

PSS_G5_NA9_LR_OL_9781486925452.indd 12 2017-11-28 12:48 PM Sometimes, conductors were freedmen and freedwomen who had previously escaped from slavery. They were particularly knowledgeable about the routes. They were a big part of the success of the Underground Railroad.

Freeborn African Americans: people of African descent who were born free, usually the descendants of enslaved people who had been freed

Freedmen and freedwomen: previously enslaved people who had been legally freed

Runaway slaves (or “fugitive slaves”): enslaved people who ran away

Henry “Box” Brown escaped from slavery by having himself mailed to Philadelphia. 13

PSS_G5_NA9_LR_OL_9781486925452.indd 13 2017-11-28 12:48 PM Key Participants

Rev. John Rankin and Jean Rankin

The Rankins and their 13 children were all active participants in the Underground Railroad.

What was their role? Stationmasters and stockholders

How did they help? Mrs. Rankin provided food and clothing for runaways. Rev. Rankin spoke around the country against slavery. John Rankin

How many passengers? The Rankin family helped nearly 2,000 people escape.

Frances Ellen Watkins Harper

Harper was a freeborn African American who gave many abolitionist speeches.

What was her role? Stockholder Frances Harper How did she help? Harper gave money to support the Underground Railroad.

How many passengers? Harper did not guide escapees to the North. However, she used her speeches to gather a lot of support for abolition.

14

PSS_G5_NA9_LR_OL_9781486925452.indd 14 2017-11-28 12:48 PM William Still

Still was a freeborn African American who put himself in danger by participating in the Underground Railroad. William Still What was his role? Ticket agent

How did he help? Still was in charge of a series of safe houses from Philadelphia to Canada. He kept detailed records of how the Underground Railroad operated.

How many passengers? In 14 years, he helped nearly 800 people find freedom.

Coded Quilts Some stories say that along the Underground Railroad, quilts would be slung over fences or hung in windows for runaways to see. These quilts supposedly had secret codes sewn into them that helped runaways find safe passage. Some historians say these stories of coded messages are not true. Nonetheless, quilts were an important part of the African American heritage.

15

PSS_G5_NA9_LR_OL_9781486925452.indd 15 2017-11-28 12:48 PM Harriet Tubman, The Ultimate Conductor

Harriet Tubman was born in Maryland to enslaved parents in the early 1820s. In 1849, her master died. She was expecting to be sold and separated from her family.

The Journey Begins On a September evening that year, Tubman ran away. Following the North Star, she made her first stop at a Quaker woman’s house. The Quaker woman’s son hid Tubman in his wagon and drove her to another safe house.

Tubman moved from safe house to safe house until she had crossed the Mason-Dixon Line, which was the boundary that separated the free and slave states.

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PSS_G5_NA9_LR_OL_9781486925452.indd 16 2017-11-28 12:48 PM Helping One, Helping All Tubman went to work in Philadelphia and saved up money. A year later, she willingly risked her safety and returned to Maryland as a conductor to lead her family to freedom.

Tubman’s Legacy Freeing her family was only the first of Tubman’s feats. Historians estimate that Tubman made many trips to the South and led at least 70 enslaved people to freedom. When the Civil War began, Tubman spied for the Union Army. In 1863, she led a military raid that freed more than 700 enslaved people. She was the first woman to lead a military raid.

This photo from 1887 shows Harriet Tubman (far left) with family and friends in Auburn, New York.

17

PSS_G5_NA9_LR_OL_9781486925452.indd 17 2017-11-28 12:48 PM The red lines indicate the travel routes taken by runaway slaves toward Canada and the free states in the United States.

Routes

The routes along the Underground Railroad were filled with risks. Runaways would arrive at a certain station. There they would be fed by a stationmaster and allowed to rest. Conductors would meet the fugitives at a station and lead or transport the fugitives to another station. Every step of the way, conductors and fugitives risked being seen.

Because large groups would have drawn too much attention, many runaways traveled in small groups. Most traveled on foot.

18

PSS_G5_NA9_LR_OL_9781486925452.indd 18 2017-11-28 12:48 PM Keeping It Secret To confuse slave catchers, the routes of the Underground Railroad were often very indirect. Conductors did not want to accidentally lead slave catchers to a safe house.

Furthermore, details about the routes and locations of stations were never written down. This was done for the sake of secrecy. Also, not many enslaved people could read or write because it was illegal to educate enslaved people in several Southern states.

After the Civil War, the Freedmen’s Bureau, a U.S. government agency, helped to set up schools for African Americans in the South.

19

PSS_G5_NA9_LR_OL_9781486925452.indd 19 2017-11-28 12:48 PM Slave Catchers

For many years, local newspapers in the Southern states often had “Wanted” notices. The notices offered rewards for the capture of runaways. Many people wanted to claim the rewards, so they chased fugitives across the country. These people were called slave catchers.

Slave catchers could pursue fugitives well into the free states. For a time, abolitionists worked together to protect runaways from being caught. But in 1850, Congress passed the Fugitive Slave Act, which said that all citizens must help slave catchers, regardless of their own feelings about slavery.

The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 also declared that captured African Americans could not appear before a jury. Moreover, the act made it possible for a slave catcher to accuse freeborn or freed African Americans of being fugitives.

A reward poster

20

PSS_G5_NA9_LR_OL_9781486925452.indd 20 2017-11-28 12:48 PM Legal Papers Documents called Freedom Papers and Certificates of Freedom were used to prove the free status of a person. However, it was not unusual for slave catchers to destroy or steal these documents. The slave catchers Certificate of could then accuse legally free Freedom, 1817 men and women of being fugitives. They could be put in jail or, worse, taken to the South and sold.

In 1841, a freeborn African American named Solomon Northup was kidnapped and sold into slavery for 12 years. He was eventually freed with the help of an abolitionist named Samuel Bass. Northup wrote a memoir detailing the years he lived as an enslaved person. In 2013, Northup’s memoir was made into an Oscar-winning film called 12 Years a Slave.

British actor Chiwetel Ejiofor plays Solomon Northup in the movie 12 Years a Slave.

21

PSS_G5_NA9_LR_OL_9781486925452.indd 21 2017-11-28 12:48 PM Joining the Fight

In the second year of the Civil War, the Union Army captured the town of New Bern, North Carolina. Thousands of enslaved people fled to the town for protection. A camp was set up to house the fugitives, and the camp soon grew into a vibrant community.

William Henry Singleton

William Henry Singleton had been enslaved since birth. He was one of thousands who had run away to the Union camps at New Bern. Singleton volunteered to fight for the North, but since he was still considered property according to the law, he was turned away.

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PSS_G5_NA9_LR_OL_9781486925452.indd 22 2017-11-28 12:48 PM Singleton was still eager to fight. He gathered nearly 1,000 formerly enslaved men and formed his own regiment. The men performed drills using cornstalks in place of guns.

By chance, Singleton met President Abraham Lincoln at the Union Army camp. Singleton pleaded with the president to let his 1,000 men fight. President Lincoln told Singleton that his men would soon have their chance to serve.

President Lincoln was about to issue the Emancipation Proclamation.

President Abraham Lincoln visiting a Union Army camp

23

PSS_G5_NA9_LR_OL_9781486925452.indd 23 2017-11-28 12:48 PM The Emancipation Proclamation Issued on September 22, 1862, the Emancipation Proclamation granted freedom to all enslaved people within the Confederacy. It gave hope to many enslaved people in the South that they would soon be free. The Proclamation became law on January 1, 1863. Runaways held by the Union Army were immediately set free. In the South, the Union Army freed the slaves in every place that they had won.

The Emancipation Proclamation represented a shift in the focus of the war. The goal of the Union Army was not only to reunite the country. It now fought for a second goal: to make the United States a nation free of slavery.

President Abraham Lincoln presents the Emancipation Proclamation to his cabinet on July 22, 1862.

24

PSS_G5_NA9_LR_OL_9781486925452.indd 24 2017-11-28 12:48 PM This is one of the many posters issued to recruit men for the United States Colored Troops. At the time, “colored” was an accepted term.

United States Colored Troops

The Emancipation Proclamation cleared the path for Singleton and his men to join the fight. In 1863, the United States Colored Troops (USCT) was created. The USCT allowed African American men to join the Union Army.

In total, about 179,000 African American men joined the Union Army. Another 18,000 to 19,000 men served in the Union Navy. Many of them were formerly enslaved people who wanted to help bring freedom to their people. These African American soldiers went on to prove their courage on battlefields.

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PSS_G5_NA9_LR_OL_9781486925452.indd 25 2017-11-28 12:48 PM U.S. Colored Troops medal, 1864

Facing Discrimination

Members of the USCT were initially paid less than white soldiers. They were also expected to do hard labor instead of fighting. Yet, they still gave their all. These soldiers worked as cooks, nurses, scouts, spies, and more.

Women contributed in their own ways as well. They could not fight on the battlefields, but formerly enslaved women often served as nurses. One nurse, Ann Stokes, was likely the first African American woman to sign up for the U.S. Navy.

On the other hand, the Confederate Army did not allow enslaved people to enlist until the war was almost over. The Confederacy’s recruitment effort was not very successful.

26

PSS_G5_NA9_LR_OL_9781486925452.indd 26 2017-11-28 12:48 PM Soldiers of Company E, 4th United States Colored Infantry

The Aftermath

As for William Henry Singleton, he eventually became a sergeant in the USCT. In 1866, Singleton was honorably discharged.

On December 6, 1865, the Thirteenth Amendment was officially signed into law. This amendment abolished slavery throughout the United States. The Underground Railroad was no longer needed. The African Americans who bravely defended their freedom had sparked the abolition movement. Their courage influenced the outcome of the Civil War. Their struggle would continue to inspire others’ fights for equality for decades to come.

27

PSS_G5_NA9_LR_OL_9781486925452.indd 27 2017-11-28 12:48 PM Glossary abolitionist: a person who is regiment: a unit of an army in favor of ending slavery and that is usually made of at helping enslaved people get least two battle groups to freedom secede: to separate from estimated: generalized and a nation or political approximated organization

fugitive: a person who is transport: to move something running away or in hiding, from one place to another usually to avoid being arrested volunteer: a person who willingly takes on a pursue: to chase after and try responsibility or task to catch someone

Quaker: a member of a Christian religious group whose members are against violence

Index American Civil War, 6–7, 17, 19, Quakers, 12, 16 22, 24, 26–27 Rankin, Jean, 14 American Indians, 12 Rankin, Rev. John, 14 Canada, 10, 15, 18 Singleton, William Henry, 22–23, Charleston, 6 25, 27 Confederate Army, 6–7, 26 South Carolina, 5–6 Confederate States of America Still, William, 15 (Confederacy), 5–7, 24, 26 Stokes, Ann, 26 Emancipation Proclamation, Tubman, Harriet, 16–17 23–25 12 Years a Slave, 21 Fort Sumter, 6–7 Underground Railroad, 7–8, Fugitive Slave Act, 20 10–15, 18–19, 27 Harper, Frances Ellen Watkins, 14 Union Army, 6, 17, 22–25 Lincoln, Abraham, 4–5, 7, 23–24 United States, 5, 7, 18–19, 24, Maryland, 8–9, 16–17 26–27 Mason-Dixon Line, 16 United States Colored Troops Mexico, 10 (USCT), 25–27 Northup, Solomon, 21

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PSS_G5_NA9_LR_OL_9781486925452.indd 28 2017-11-28 12:48 PM THINK ABOUT IT

1. The Underground Railroad is central to this book. Use a four-column chart to list four of the most important people involved in the Underground Railroad. Explain your choices.

2. What chain of events did the election of Abraham Lincoln in November 1860 set in motion?

3. The book ends with a reference to African Americans’ struggle for equality. Compare the struggle for equality as it was in 1865 to how it is in present day. Consider not only African Americans but also all groups of people who face discrimination.

CITIZENSHIP IN ACTION An important reason for us to study history is so that we can learn from it and avoid repeating mistakes from the past.

Your Turn! If you were going to give a speech to explain to second-graders at your school why it is important to read this book, what are the top three reasons you would give?

PSS_G5_NA9_LR_OL_9781486925452.indd 3 2017-11-28 12:56 PM Journeys to Freedom

Joan A. Nelson

ISBN-13: 978-1-4869-2545-2 ISBN-10: 1-4869-2545-6 9 0 0 0 0 >

9 7 8 1 4 8 6 9 2 5 4 5 2

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