Textbook
Henry W. Bragdon et al., History of a Free Nation (New York: Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, 1998), 343.
The Underground Railroad
Another leader who favored political action was Fredrick Douglass, self-educated and formerly enslaved, who edited an abolitionist newspaper, The North Star. The title was meant to remind people of the Underground Railroad. This secret abolitionist organization, which had hiding places, or stations, throughout the Northern states and even into Canada, brought enslaved people out of the South and thus ensured their freedom. Moving at night, the agents of the Underground Railroad had only Polaris, the fixed star in the Northern skies, to guide them. They not only took care of African Americans after they had come North, but they risked their lives to go into the slave states and lead enslaved others to freedom.
One of the most successful agents was Harriet Tubman, the “Black Moses,” who herself had been born into slavery. After escaping, she returned to the South many times, liberating more than 300 enslaved people. Tubman avoided arrest, despite a reward of $40,000 offered for her capture.
Another leader who favored political action was Fredrick Douglass, self-educated and formerly enslaved, who edited an abolitionist newspaper, The North Star. The title was meant to remind people of the Underground Railroad. This secret abolitionist organization, which had hiding places, or stations, throughout the Northern states and even into Canada, brought enslaved people out of the South and thus ensured their freedom. Moving at night, the agents of the Underground Railroad had only Polaris, the fixed star in the Northern skies, to guide them. They not only took care of African Americans after they had come North, but they risked their lives to go into the slave states and lead enslaved others to freedom.
One of the most successful agents was Harriet Tubman, the “Black Moses,” who herself had been born into slavery. After escaping, she returned to the South many times, liberating more than 300 enslaved people. Tubman avoided arrest, despite a reward of $40,000 offered for her capture.
Links
Depicted ContentUnderground Railroad