WHAT IS THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD AND WHY DID IT EXIST HERE? PAVING THE PATH TO FREEDOM: ORDINARY PEOPLE WHO DID EXTRAORDINARY THINGS rom the earliest days of to grain, diminishing the need for numerous laborers. The within their jurisdiction. Citizens were required to inform rdinary people took great risks in doing extraordi­ incredibly hazardous—far more dangerous than operating Few women took the opportunity to flee their bondage. colonial settlement, when threat of sale far away from family and friends, which frac­ authorities about runaways and aid in their capture. The nary things to pave freedom's path on Maryland's in the free states to the north. Ties to their children prevented many from running away. Africans were first forcibly tured families and separated parents from young children, fugitive slaves hiding in the North had become vulnerable to Underground Railroad. Their stories reveal amazing acts Some brought their children with them while others left brought to the colonies to labor motivated many to run. Harsh treatment and the intense capture, and many fled to Canada, where slavery was illegal. of courage and inspiration, demonstrating how Mary­ Rev. Charles Torrey, a northern minister and abolitionist, them behind. Complete families did occasionally escape as slaves, many resisted and ran desire for freedom drove thousands more to escape. land's own freedom fighters struck a blow to slavery, operated with assistance from an African-American together. In 1857, 44 people in two groups successfully away from their masters. Slave Meanwhile, abolitionists and Underground Railroad bringing justice and liberty to all. While some participants accomplice, Thomas Smallwood. The two of them led fled from Dorchester County, bringing 20 children and abor became the foundation Freedom seekers faced enormous obstacles. Relentless activists doubled their efforts to liberate slaves. became famous, many heroes remain unknown, due to approximately 400 freedom seekers out of Virginia, infants with them. Hotly pursued by slave catchers, they of American society and slave catchers, armed with guns, knives, and whips, Vigilance committees in northern cities coordinated their clandestine operation. Washington, D.C., and Maryland. Taking increas­ struggled while running unprotected in the cold, heavy culture. In the years following the hunted their fugitives with vicious attack dogs. the elaborate communication and relief networks ingly bold risks, Torrey was arrested in 1844 rain. A young boy became separated from his parents. American Revolution, sentiments of Newspaper ads and wanted posters, featuring the I that served fleeing slaves. Slave escapes escalated. Both free and enslaved African Americans were LW for bringing a woman and her two children Lacking shoes, his chances of survival seemed dim, but he "equality and freedom for all" were image of a black person with a pole and satchel Frustrated over increasing losses, southern slave­ the foundation of the Underground Railroad away from Baltimore. He died in prison in hid himself until rescued. Mass escapes like this were rare, strong, and slavery was gradually over his or her shoulder, promised varying rewards holders, especially in border states like Maryland movement. 1846. Smallwood stood to lose his freedom testifying to the bonds of family that weighed heavily in outlawed in the northern states. for their capture. Whites, free African Americans, and Virginia, tightened their grip on both free and if caught, and successfully fled with his the decision to flee or stay. But in southern states, where and other slaves were tempted to inform on enslaved African Americans. Samuel Green, a free black minister and the family to Canada. agricultural interests dominated runaways. Captured freedom seekers often received x rx father of a runaway slave, was tried for aiding Harriet Tubman became the the economy, slavery thrived horrific physical punishment. They were whipped, branded As the Civil War approached, slaveholders were fully aware fugitives from the Eastern Shore in 1857. When a Runaways found support and most famous freedom seeker HHltgt and expanded. with the letter "R" for runaway, and mutilated. To prevent = 2 of the Underground Railroad, but unsure of its actual opera­ jury failed to convict him, frustrated slaveholders refuge in Native -American and conductor who risked the potential financial loss of a slave escaping again, slave­ O. _ tions. They imagined white abolitionists infiltrating their concocted new charges. Green was imprisoned for communities, such as the her life to rescue loved ones. holders often sold captured runaways to slave traders Sri Enslaved people resisted their bondage. Many commit­ communities, enticing slaves to run away, never acknowledg­ owning a copy of Uncle Tom's Cabin. Nanticokes and the Shawnees. -*a= c3u Tubman noted that liberty in the Deep South. ted acts of defiance, from refusing to work, to sabo­ ing that slaves might want to be free all on their own. Many Maryland and Virginia slave 3 = brought her little comfort tage, poisonings, arson, and violence. Some came to suspect free blacks as the most dangerous threat to George Wilmer lived a precarious dual life as a owners filed numerous court *2 n QJ O without her family. "I was a attempted to flee their bondage by running the slave system. In Maryland, as elsewhere in the South, T3 cz Safety and security for runaway slaves living in conductor on the Underground Railroad and as an petitions and complaints against =r^ stranger in a strange land," away. It was illegal for slaves to flee from their local governments enacted laws to keep African Americans CD n> the North diminished greatly in 1850 when enslaved man. Wilmer, and his wife Margaret, provided these tribes for sheltering runaway -—' l/T she once said, "and my home, r— *< masters, and those who did became known Congress passed The Fugitive Slave Act. Un­ under the tightest control. Freedom seekers became deeply a safe house near Georgetown Crossroads on the Sassafras slaves in their villages. (~i O after all, was down in Mary­ as fugitives from the law. der this law, northern police were bound to cautious, and rightfully so. Countless escapes were foiled by River, a strategic path to upper Delaware. During one SB M CD land because my father, my capture and return any suspected runaway the betrayal of friends, family, and by vigilant whites in the four-month period in 1855, Wilmer forwarded 25 freedom Most freedom seekers were young men, like CTT r— mother, my brothers and sis­ By the late 1700s a system provided support community eager for the high monetary rewards. seekers to Quaker Thomas Garrett Frederick Douglass, who had fewer family ties sl ters, and friends were there. to runaways, also known as freedom seekers in Wilmington. and were physically able to endure hardships. But I was free and they should and self-liberators. Communities, individuals, William Still, of Philadelphia Vigilance Committee As activities drew the nation closer to conflict, only the Civil Some men forged strong community relation­ o•3 be free." She liberated almost and small groups of like-minded people com­ — courtesy of Chester County Historical Society, War would bring about the end of slavery and the need for African-American agents like these ships throughout the Chesapeake region that CO 70 individuals—an amazing West Chester, PA CD mitted themselves to help end the institution the Underground Railroad. sometimes worked with sympathetic linked to Underground Railroad supporters in testament to the strength of of slavery. Though the name Underground whites and others who believed that the North. These men, like Douglass, became an underground network that Railroad first appeared in the early 1830s (with Above: Anti-Slavery Token — Ohio Historical Society slavery was morally wrong. Many Underground Railroad agents themselves never betrayed her. the arrival of rail transportation), the secret net­ Quakers participated in this move­ Henry Highland Garnet, J. W. C. works to freedom had long been in operation. ment, but not all Quakers, or all African Pennington, and Alexander Hemsley People who participated in these illegal and clandes­ Americans were willing participants. were all freedom seekers from tine operations were identified as agents, conductors, Working as an agent on the Maryland who spoke publicly engineers, and stationmasters, terms that mirrored Underground Railroad in a against slavery and actively support positions on actual railroads. They guided freedom seek­ slave state was ed freedom seekers. ers, hid them on their property, made arrangements for their next safe place to stay, purchased train or boat tick­ Above: Frederick Douglass — Chester County ets, hid them in cargo, and transported them in wagons Samuel Green — from William Still," The Historical Society, West Chester, PA or in the hulls of ships. Underground Railroad,"1872 edition, Maryland Historical Society, Baltimore, MD E450.585 Maryland's slaves were commonly sold to people in the Henry Highland Garnet, Deep South as Maryland's agriculture shifted from tobacco — National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution Above: The Runaway —Wilbur H. Siebert's Collection, Ohio Historical Society Slave narratives were written or dictated by successful fugitives who found freedom. The narratives described their experiences in bondage and their journeys to freedom. Charles Ball was born into slavery on a tobacco plantation in Calvert Slave Auction Family — courtesy of Illustrated London News County, Maryland. Ball was sold away from his wife to a slave trader from Georgia. Ball found his mistreatment unbearable and escaped from slavery, walking from Georgia to Maryland where he returned to his wife and children. He hired himself out for wages and saved enough to buy a farm near Baltimore. In 1830 he was captured and returned to slavery. He escaped again, hiding on a ship to Philadelphia and then returned to Baltimore. In his absence, his wife and children, who were legally freed slaves, had been sold into slavery.