The Underground Railroad in North Carolina

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The Underground Railroad in North Carolina

The Underground Railroad was perhaps the most active and dramatic protest action against slavery in United States history and as we look at the Underground Railroad in North Carolina we will focus on the Quakers, Levi Coffin’s early years, and the accounts of escaped slaves from North Carolina. The unique blend of southern slave holder and northern abolitionist influences in the formation of North Carolina served to make the state an important link in the efforts to end slavery inside and outside of North Carolina borders.

Although not "underground" nor a "railroad," this informal system became a loosely constructed network of escape routes that originated in the South, intertwined throughout the North, and eventually ended in Canada and other places where runaways were safe from being recaptured. From 1830 to 1865, the Underground Railroad reached its peak as abolitionists who condemned human bondage aided large numbers of slaves to freedom. They not only called for an end to slavery, but acted to assist its victims in securing freedom. Unlike other organized activities of the abolition movement that primarily denounced human bondage, the Underground Railroad secretly resisted slavery by aiding runaways.

Because the Underground Railroad had a lack of formal organization, its existence often relied on the efforts of many people from many different aspects of life in North Carolina who helped slaves to escape. Accounts are limited of individuals who actually participated in its activities. Usually conductors hid or destroyed their personal journals to protect themselves and the runaways. However some first hand accounts from runaway slaves were recorded. The shortage of evid...

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...nd courage of the black North Carolinians that had to flee along the Underground Railroad for their lives and freedom.

Bibliography

Levi Coffin(1789-1877) , Reminiscences of Levi Coffin (New York: Arno Press, 1968)

Curtis, Anna Louise (1882-) Stories of the underground railroad, by Anna L. Curtis; foreword [by] Rufus M. Jones, illustrated by William Brooks Publisher New York, The Island Workshop Press Co-op, 1941

The Underground railroad, official map and guide [Washington, D.C.?] : National Park Service, U.S. Dept. of the Interior, [1996]

William Still(1821-1902) , The Underground Railroad (New York, Arno Press, 1968)

The Fugitive Slave Law ,US Congress, 1793 US Historical Documents Archive,

http://w3.one.net/~mweiler/ushda/fugslave.htm

Fugitive Slave Act 1850 ,The Avalon Project, Yale Law School

http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/fugitive.htm

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