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The term "Underground Railroad" arose
as a colloquialism during America's pre-Civil War decades; it
referred to secret, organized efforts by northerners to help
escaped slaves find safe shelter in the free states or Canada.
Such assistance was necessary because the Fugitive Slave Act
of 1793 and the stricter Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 allowed slaveowners
to recapture their escaped slaves.
Despite well-known forays into the deep South to spirit
slaves to freedom--such as those of Harriet
Tunman--the great majority of escaped slaves acted on their
own. They made the most dangerous part of their trip--across
the slave states to free territory--without organized help. Many
of them, however, once they reached the free states, were guided
along prearranged Underground Railroad routes, receiving shelter
and supplies at "stations," as the homes of the Railroad's
supporters were known.
In general it was northern free blacks who played
the most important role in the planning, communication, and decision
making within the network of escape. The railroad was most active
in Ohio, Indiana, and Pennsylvania but existed throughout the
North. Estimates of the number of slaves aided by the Underground
Railroad are difficult to make, but most fall between 50,000
and 100,000. |
