Over the past two decades or more, America has witnessed a healthy renewal of interest of the Underground Railroad. The Underground Railroad is a story of suffering, bravery, secret codes, heroic deeds, treachery and lofty ideas. It is a story about the best and the worst of human kind. Disconnected and daring escapees hoped that the North Star would guide them to stations on the burgeoning Underground Railroad; which by the early 1830's still did not have a name. The word spread from plantation to plantation, city to city, town to town; first in whispers and then out right talk, there was a railroad to freedom. Invisible though it may have been, the Underground Railroad had numerous agents, conductors and stations throughout the secret freedom network. Slave owners of course, looked upon the Underground Railroad as organized theft. Under the constitution of the United States slavery was lawful and slaves were property. Although assisting escapees along the freedom network meant breaking the law. Yet, people like Harriet Tubman, the most famous conductor did so eagerly. The Underground Railroad remained active until the end of the Civil war.

Find out about the secret language of the Underground Railroad and the routes that helped slaves escape to freedom.

Examines the events and key figures behind the formation and operation of the Underground Railroad, the secretive and illegal organization that helped American slaves escape to freedom in the northern United States and Canada.

Read about the Underground Railroad.

Learn about the history and bravery of the Underground Railroad.

Describes what it was like for slaves escaping to freedom, how slaves received help from people on the way, and how they found out about the trails to the North.

Publisher Description

First-hand accounts of daring escapes to freedom by way of the underground railroad.

This book relays the factual details of the Underground Railroad and slavery in the United States. The narrative provides multiple accounts of the events, and readers learn details from the point of view of a slave, a slave owner, and a conductor on the railroad. This book offers opportunities to compare and contrast various perspectives in a text while gathering and analyzing information about an historical event.