I chose this event because it was the beginning of freedom for African American slaves.
The Underground Railroad refers to the effort --sometimes spontaneous, sometimes highly organized -- to assist persons held in bondage in North America to escape from slavery. While most runaways began their journey unaided and many completed their self-emancipation without assistance, each decade in which slavery was legal in the United States saw an increase in the public perception of an underground network and in the number of persons willing to give aid to the runaway. Although this study encompasses the period from American independence to the end of the Civil War (1770s to 1865), it focuses on the years between 1820 and 1865 when most antislavery advocates abandoned their hope for gradual emancipation and adopted immediate abolition of slavery as their goal. Although divided on this issue, the abolitionist movement was successful in expanding and publicizing the informal network known as the underground railroad.
The term "underground railroad" had no meaning to the generations before the first rails and engines of the 1820s, but many earlier events were precursors of the underground railroad. This study includes incidents which have all the characteristics of underground railroad activity but which occurred before 1820. These activities foreshadowed and helped to shape the underground railroad. While the primary focus will be on the most active period of underground railroad activity, it is important to document earlier and related events which contribute to an understanding of this nationally-significant, geographically-widespread enterprise.
The origin of the term cannot be precisely determined although there are several claims for the honor. What is known is that both those who aided escapes from slavery and those who were outraged by loss of slave property began to refer to runaways as part of an "underground railroad" by the 1830s. The "underground railroad" described an activity that was locally organized, but which had no real national center. It existed rather openly in the North and just beneath the surface of daily life in the upper South and certain Southern cities. Where it existed, the underground railroad offered local service to runaway slaves by assisting them from one point to another. Farther along, others would take the passenger into their transportation system until the final destination had been reached.
The term "underground railroad" had no meaning to the generations before the first rails and engines of the 1820s, but many earlier events were precursors of the underground railroad. This study includes incidents which have all the characteristics of underground railroad activity but which occurred before 1820. These activities foreshadowed and helped to shape the underground railroad. While the primary focus will be on the most active period of underground railroad activity, it is important to document earlier and related events which contribute to an understanding of this nationally-significant, geographically-widespread enterprise.
The origin of the term cannot be precisely determined although there are several claims for the honor. What is known is that both those who aided escapes from slavery and those who were outraged by loss of slave property began to refer to runaways as part of an "underground railroad" by the 1830s. The "underground railroad" described an activity that was locally organized, but which had no real national center. It existed rather openly in the North and just beneath the surface of daily life in the upper South and certain Southern cities. Where it existed, the underground railroad offered local service to runaway slaves by assisting them from one point to another. Farther along, others would take the passenger into their transportation system until the final destination had been reached.