When students study the American slave trade and the Civil War, coverage of the Underground Railroad is often little more than a footnote.

The Underground Railroad was a network of people who helped fugitive slaves escape to the North and to Canada. These “helpers” were often white, but blacks made up the majority. One of the reasons for its success was that individuals knew only about local efforts to aid fugitives, but no one had knowledge of the entire operation. Hundreds of slaves escaped north via the Underground Railroad each year. Because of the secrecy that needed to occur, exact numbers of escaped slaves who were assisted by the Underground Railroad aren’t known. Historians estimate the South lost 100,000 slaves between 1810 and 1850.

Most slaves who were helped by the Underground Railroad escaped Border States such as Maryland, Kentucky, and Virginia.

The first recognized efforts to create an organized system to help runaway slaves began in the late 18th century. According to biographical information about George Washington, he was not a fan. Washington allegedly complained in 1786 that a runaway slave from his plantation had been helped by a group of Quakers.  In the early 1800s, Isaac T. Hopper, a Quaker abolitionist, established a network in Philadelphia to help slaves on the run. In conjunction with Hopper’s efforts, Quakers in North Carolina established abolitionist groups which began creating routes and shelters for escapees.

In 1816, The African Methodist Episcopal Church was established and became a proactive religious group helping fugitive slaves.

The first of the Fugitive Slave Acts which passed in 1793 made capturing escaped slaves a lucrative business in the Deep South. This made escape more difficult. Anyone caught aiding a runaway slave was subject to harsh penalties and sometimes they were executed. People were afraid to help leaving fewer hiding places for the fugitive slaves.  Local governments had the authority to apprehend and extradite escaped slaves from Free states and return them to their point of origin. Many Northern states enacted Personal Liberty Laws, but these laws were struck down by the Supreme Court in 1842. This often made escape to Canada which offered blacks the freedom to live where they wanted, sit on juries, and run for public office highly desirable. Efforts at extradition by slave states in the U.S were typically unsuccessful. Some Underground Railroad operators remained in Canada to help the arriving fugitives settle in.

Around 1831 this secretive network was dubbed "The Underground Railroad." The network used railroading terms. “Conductors” were responsible for moving fugitives along the network. “Stationmasters were in charge of places where fugitives rested and ate. These places were called "stations" and "depots." "Stockbrokers” contributed money or goods to the network.

The journey along the Railroad was arduous and fraught with danger. First, slaves had to escape from their slaveholder. Often, slaves had to devise their own means of escape. If caught they could be whipped, sold or killed. Sometimes freed or escaped slaves expanded the role of “conductor” by returning to a plantation disguised as a slave. They then aided the slaves in their escape and guided them north.

In most cases, fugitives could only travel at night. Stations were typically arranged 10 - 20 miles apart. Fugitives sheltered at these stations which were typically barns, caves or other out-of-the-way places. As they rested and ate, a message was sent to alert the next stationmaster to expect a new group soon.

Though fugitive slaves most often walked between stations, they occasionally traveled by horse, covered wagon, trains or boats.

The fugitives often needed new clothing because a black person in tattered clothing was more conspicuous.

Vigilance committees which donated funds to cover the cost of food, clothing and travel expenses formed in several larger towns and cities, such as New York, Philadelphia, and Boston. They also helped the fugitives settle into a community and find jobs, often providing letters of recommendation.

The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 was designed to strengthen the 1793 Act which southern states considered to be inadequately enforced. This update established harsher penalties for aiding fugitive slaves and set up a system of commissioners loyal to the interests of slave owners. Several freed slaves were recaptured and forced back into slavery.

Most Underground Railroad operators were farmers, business owners, or ministers. However, some were quite wealthy. Gerrit Smith, a millionaire who twice ran for president purchased an entire family of slaves from Kentucky and set them free.

Levi Coffin, a Quaker from North Carolina, started helping fugitive slaves around 1813 when he was 15 years old. He is credited with helping over 3,000 slaves make their way to freedom.

Harriet Tubman, formerly known as Araminta Ross, became Harriet (Tubman was her married name) after she escaped a plantation in Maryland with two of her brothers in 1849. Her brothers eventually returned to the plantation, but Tubman made her way to Pennsylvania. She returned to the plantation several times to rescue family members and others. On one attempt, she tried to rescue her husband, but he had remarried and would not leave with her.

Tubman joined the Underground Railroad and became its most famous conductor guiding other escaped slaves to Maryland. She regularly guided groups of escapees to Canada. She is credited with making 19 trips into the South and escorting over 300 saves to freedom.

William Still, a prominent Philadelphia citizen was born to fugitive slave parents in New Jersey. Stills was an associate of Tubman’s. He kept a secret journal of his activities in the Underground Railroad and kept it safely hidden until after the Civil War. His journal offers one of the most accurate accounts of Underground Railroad activity.

Frederick Douglass, a former slave living in the North who went on to become a famous writer, hid fugitive slaves in Rochester, New York. Douglass is believed to have helped over 400 fugitives make their way to Canada. Later, Douglass would be critical of the Underground Railroad system because of the backlash it created in southern states where remaining slaves were often tortured after an escape in hopes of getting information about Underground Railroad activities, the identities of conductors or stationmasters and station locations.

The Reverend Jermain Loguen, also a former slave, helped 1,500 slaves go north from his home in Syracuse.

Other famous names connected with the Underground Railroad include Robert Purvis, an escaped slave who became a successful Philadelphia merchant, formed a Vigilance Committee there in 1838.

In 1842, Josiah Henson, a former slave and railroad operator created the Dawn Institute in Ontario to assist escaped slaves arriving in Canada learn needed work skills.

John Parker, a free black man in Ohio, who owned a foundry regularly, took a rowboat across the Ohio River to help fugitives cross. He also went to plantations in Kentucky to help slaves escape.

John Fairfield was the son of a slaveholding family. He rejected his slave-holding family and helped rescue families left behind by escaped slaves who made it north.  He traveled in the south posing as a slave trader. Fairfield died in 1860 in Tennessee during a slave rebellion.

Sources used:

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p2944.html

History.com Editors, “Underground Railroad.” HISTORY. https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/underground-railroad. February 14, 2019. A&E Television Networks. February 8, 2019.

October 29, 2009