How did the Underground railroad work?

Question

How did the Underground railroad work?

Answer 1

In the South, there were people who were willing to hide and/or smuggle slaves to states in the North.  They had contacts all along the way with places to find safe shelter and food.  Sometimes slaves ran away and tried to find connections to those who would help.  They would hide in cellars, barns, hidden secret rooms, any place they could find for shelter.  Sometimes they were transported and hidden from sight in false wagon bottoms.

I believe there has been a special television program with more information and of course, pictures which help tell the story.  Perhaps you could check the History Channel.

Answer 2

no such railroad, just a path and sequence of houses that would travel slaves to the north to canada from the south. again there was NO ACTUAL RAIL LINE AND THIS IS A FACT!!! lots of people never paid attention when they were in American History class, did they?

Answer 3

You needed to be a slave or they wouldnt let you on.  A woman named Harriet Tubman was the conductor.  The slaves had to steal a token from there masters before they escaped to ensure they had a ride on the train.  I believe the train went from texas all the way up the east coast, straight to Maine.

Answer 4

Underground Railroad: A loose network of antislavery northerners—mostly blacks—that illegally helped fugitive slaves reach safety in the free states or Canada in the period before the American Civil War; it was also called the Liberty Line. Begun in the 1780s under Quaker auspices, the activity acquired legendary fame after the 1830s. It was once thought that more than 60,000 slaves gained their freedom in this way, but that estimate is probably an exaggeration.

Because of its proximity to the North, the upper South supplied a high proportion of the fugitives. They were usually young adults, male, unattached, and highly skilled; family flights were rare. Traveling by night to avoid detection, escapees used the North Star for guidance. Usually they sought isolated “stations” (farms) or “vigilance committee” agents in towns, where sympathetic free blacks could effectively conceal them. When possible, “conductors” met them at such border points as Cincinnati, Ohio, and Wilmington, Del. The lake ports of Detroit, Sandusky, Ohio, Erie, Pa., and Buffalo, N.Y., were terminals for quick escape to Canada, whose free soil policy was a major source of encouragement for the immigration of escaped slaves. The American abolitionist leader Harriet Tubman, called the Moses of the blacks, and Levi Coffin (1798–1877), a Cincinnati Quaker, were among the famous rescuers. Professional slave catchers and vigilant officials often seized refugees to gain rewards.

More important than the number arriving safely was the publicity given to this clandestine work, which helped to make northern whites conscious of the evils of slavery. The federal Fugitive Slave Law of 1793 became difficult to enforce as Yankee judges and legislators restricted masters’ rights of recovery. A new law, part of the COMPROMISE MEASURES OF 1850, (q.v.), was more stringent, but the activities of the Underground Railroad continued. Outraged at northern defiance of the law, southerners grew increasingly provoked. Antagonism over fugitives and the publicity accorded them were crucial in fueling the flames of sectional mistrust that eventually led to the American Civil War.        B.W., BERTRAM WYATT-BROWN, M.A., Ph.D.

Answer 5

It was a system to help slave get up Noeth to the Union states or to Canada. Their was houses that were called stations where the slave were given food and shelter until they could move on. then the people who owned the house would give them directions to the next "station". The system worked very well and helped many slaves to make it to freedom.

Answer 6

Think about the era: it was a time when there were no telephones, nor radios, telegraphs, and the predominate mode of transportation was walking, horses and boats - anything with a steam engine was still a novelty and being developed for limited use.

Now imagine how diffiuclt or easy it was for the people, both black and white,  to secretly transport enlsaved African-American individuals, the old and young,  from Florida to Maine to Ohio into Canada - That was the underground railroad.

Your question belongs in the history category, and, in particular to the pre-Civil War to approximately 1875 (this is because there were states who refused to live by the laws created for and by the Civil War) period.  The next time PBS airs the documentary series entitled "The American Experience" watch it and don't miss an episode.

Answer 7

Underground Railroad ; Slaves would escape on foot and walk up north to freedom.  On the route, there were "safe" places where they could sleep and eat.

Answer 8

The Underground Railroad (occasionally referred to as the "Underground Railway") was a network of clandestine routes by which African slaves in the 19th century United States attempted to escape to free states, or as far north as Canada, with the aid of abolitionists. Other routes led to Mexico or overseas. It's estimated that at its height between 1810 and 1850, between 30,000 and 100,000 people escaped enslavement via the Underground Railroad, though U.S. Census figures only account for 6000. The Underground Railroad has captured public imagination as a symbol of freedom, and figures prominently in Black American history.

Answer 9

well it didnt run on steam power, it was basicly just a network of safe houses for runaway slaves to escape the south. there are no tracks

Answer 10

Each "station", or safe house probably knew how to contact one or two people north of them, and maybe 1-2 south as well.  Escaping slaves were told how to contact the next station, and given directions on how to get there.  The station keeper would hide them and give them food, and maybe help move them on when they could.

Answer 11

It was basically an organized group to help slaves escape to Canada or the northern US. The people involved included "conductors" who guided the slaves and various property owners who kept hiding places in their houses for escaped slaves. Many of the ways they transmitted information about it were quite cryptic indeed - for example, some of the songs slaves sang were actually musical sets of directions for how to reach a conductor or a safe house.

Answer 12

You need to go look in a history book or google it.

Answer 13

The Underground Railroad was a method of facilitating the movement of escaped ***** slaves from "slave states" to "free states"...states were slavery was illegal. Preferably to states where slaves could not be extradited to the slave states. Canada was also an option. If an escaped slave were recaptured in a slave state, he or she could expect to be shipped back to their "Master".  The escaped slaves mostly moved at night.  During the day they would sometimes stay in "safe houses". Safe houses were made available to runaway slaves by people who opposed slavery.  There were strings of safe house along the routes taken by escaped slaves. The safe house functioned similar to railway stations along a railroad line, Often the slaves were guided by people who risked a lot to help the escaped slaves. One of the guides was named Harriet Tubman. Googling Harriett will help you to understand more about the Underground Railroad.

Answer 14

Harriet Tubman  and other groups of people snuck slaves out of the south. see she ran away and discovered a way to get others to do the same. she made friends with the right people and they helped her. she went back to the south. told the inslaved people that she could get them free. and at night her friends would come with carts, wagons anything to carry a human. they would travel to other places and change carts. thats pretty much how it happened.