The Underground Railroad

Q. Is it really a railroad with a train and tracks?
A. No, this was a big network which included people that helped fugitive slaves escape to their freedom to the North and Canada. It was called the “Underground Railroad” after the emerging steam railroads and because the escapes had to be carried out in secret. It effectively moved hundreds of slaves each year.
Q.Who is a conductor on this railroad?
A.The conductor was responsible for moving fugitives from one station to the next. Harriet Tubman was a famous conductor who made nineteen return trips to the South and escaped with 300 slaves total. She was known as “the Moses of her people.”
-Explain some other words associated with railroads and how they are used as secret code words.
Stations & Depots-place where the slaves would rest and eat
Stationmasters- people who ran the stations
Stockholders- contributed money or goods
Conductor-responsible for moving fugitives from one station to the next
Drinking Gourd- Big Dipper and North Star
Bundles of wood- escaping slaves to be expected
Freight or Packages- the slaves (also considered passengers or cargo)
“A friend of a friend sent me”-code that a slave would say that he was sent by the Underground Railroad network

Yenna Park

http://www.colonlibrary.org/event/local-history-of-the-undergr
ound-railroad/

I was the conductor of the Underground Railroad for eight years, and in can say what most conductors cant say; I never ran my train off the track and I never lost a passenger.
Harriet Tubman

http://www.history.com/topics/black-history/underground-railroad
http://history.howstuffworks.com/historical-events/underground-railroad.htm
http://thegoldenpathway.blogspot.com/2011/01/code-words-were-essential-in-conducting.html