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Frederick Douglass and civil rights.
The life of Frederick Douglass in the context of the abolitionist movement.
frederick douglass letters about abolition.
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Finally they were free. After months of traveling and hiding, not knowing if they would be caught, they finally made it to the North. Their trip would have ended there if it had not been for the Fugitive Slave Act. This act stated that the people in the North were required by law to return runaway slaves. This made it necessary for runaway slaves to endure more difficult terrain to reach their ultimate goal, Canada. Not only did slaves want to be free, but many Americans also thought that slavery was wrong and wanted it abolished. Slavery was an issue throughout the 1800’s in America, and it was highly debated and eventually resolved by a terrible and bloody Civil War. Due to the desire of some Americans to abolish slavery, the Underground Railroad was established, leading to a strict Fugitive Slave Act. Throughout the 1800’s in America, abolitionists worked day and night to end slavery. The abolitionists studied and invoked the Constitution to find new ways to argue against slavery. One of the most famous abolitionists was Frederick Douglass. He was an African-American social reformer and orator that fought against slavery. He escaped from slavery and later educated himself. He gave speeches, wrote books, and protested against slavery for most of his life. Many white people also protested against slavery including John Fairfield. He was the son of a slaveholding family, and he made daring rescues to aid runaway slaves. Even Though it bankrupted his family, he acted on what he believed, even if other people did not support his beliefs. Throughout this time period, abolitionists worked endlessly to help slaves, and in the process they helped create a system to lead slaves into the North. The Underground Railroad made it possible f... ... middle of paper ... ...broke out. Many fought for what they believed in, and many lives were lost. When the North prevailed, the struggle was over, leading to a better country. Amendments were made to the constitution, banning slavery and freeing forever thousands of enslaved Americans. The Underground Railroad was a critical beacon of hope for the slaves, and without it all would have been lost. Works Cited Foner, Eric, and John A. Garraty. "Underground Railroad." History.com. A&E Television Networks, 1+9991. Web. 30 Oct. 2013 Deverell, William, and Deborah G. White. United States History. Orlando, FL: Holt, Rinehart and .…Winston, 2007. Print. Pages 418-20 Landau, Elaine. Fleeing to Freedom on the Underground Railroad: The Courageous Slaves, ….Agents, and Conductors. Minneapolis: Twenty-First Century, 2006. Print. "The Underground Railroad." PBS. PBS, n.d. Web. 30 Oct. 2013.
Eibling, Harold H., et al., eds. History of Our United States. 2nd edition. River Forest, Ill: Laidlaw Brothers, 1968.
The Underground Railroad was an escape network of small, independent groups of individuals bound together by the common belief that enslaving a human being was immoral. A loosely structured, informal system of people who, without regard for their own personal safety. Conducting fugitives from slavery to free states, and eventually to Canada where they could not be returned to slavery was a dangerous undertaking.
Walens, Susann. A. United States History Since 1877. Western Connecticut State University, Danbury, CT. September 2007.
The Underground Railroad was large group of people who secretly worked together to help slaves escape slavery in the south. Despite the name, the Underground Railroad had nothing to do with actual railroads and was not located underground (www.freedomcenter.org). The Underground Railroad helped move hundreds of slaves to the north each year. It’s estimated that the south lost 100,000 slaves during 1810-1850 (www.pbs.org).
It helped shape our society to what it is today, even if it took over a hundred years. In a hundred years we, as a country went from having slaves, to having segregation, and now everyone gets along and is equal. Sure we still have racism, but we changed a lot. If we never had the Underground Railroad, we might have never got the ball rolling.
Divine, Robert A. America past and Present. 10th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education/Longman, 2013. 245. Print.
The Underground Railroad was not a real railroad with a train but a network of meeting places in which African slaves could follow to Canada where they could free. Those who helped were at risk of the law but got the satisfaction of knowing that they were helping those who did not deserve to be treated like less than everyone else. People who escaped had to take care, they were creative with giving instructions and the way they escaped their owners but if they were caught the punishment was not very humane.
The Underground Railroad was not an actual railroad, nor was it an established route. It was, however, a way of getting slaves from the South to the North, or in this case, from the Deep South, to Mexico. In the 1800s, slavery was a major issue. As the United States began to mature, slavery began to divide. Slavery in the considered “Northern States” was emancipated, and slaves, still under bondage in the South, were looking for ways to get to the North. The Underground Railroad was one way to find freedom. A common myth about the Underground Railroad is that it was only in a pathway full of people, all trying to make it to the North for freedom. The truth is there was hardly any help in the South. The major help came along when the slaves reached the North. A former slave by the name of James Boyd was once interviewed in Itasca, Texas on this very subject. He recalls that many slaves running across the established border between Mexico and Texas to reach freedom in Mexico. ...
Moses’ Last Exodus written by Adam Goodheart spoke of a trip Harriet Tubman took to rescue her sister and her two kids. Harriet heard of her sister’s death, and the two children never showed up at the planned meeting area. Harriet instead led a family of five and another man to safety. I learned that in ten years, Harriet had managed to help 6 dozen people escape. I also found out that only about a thousand slaves escaped each year compared to the approximately 4 million slave population. It seems like such a small number and yet the Underground Railroad made such an impact in history. I suppose it was a way to show that the slave holders did not have the control they thought they did. I would enjoy hearing about a more detailed Underground
Newman, John. UNITED STATES HISTORYPreparing for the Advanced Placement Examination. Second Edition. New York: AMSCO SCHOOL PUBLICATIONS, INC, 2010. eBook. .
George Browm Tindall, David Emory Shi. American History: 5th Brief edition, W. W. Norton & Company; November 1999
The Underground Railroad despite occurring centuries ago continues to be an “enduring and popular thread in the fabric of America’s national historical memory” as Bright puts it. Throughout history, thousands of slaves managed to escape the clutches of slavery by using a system meant to liberate. In Colson Whitehead’s novel, The Underground Railroad, he manages to blend slave narrative and history creating a book that goes beyond literary or historical fiction. Whitehead based his book off a question, “what if the Underground Railroad was a real railroad?” The story follows two runaway slaves, Cora and Caesar, who are pursued by the relentless slave catcher Ridgeway. Their journey on the railroad takes them to new and unfamiliar locations,
The Underground Railroad was not an actual railroad, it was just an idea of indirect paths from on station to another. The Underground Railroad began when slaves had first entered America in 1619, and it ended along with the American Civil War in 1865 (Lavine - ). Slaves had the choice of escaping to the free-states in the North, or to Mexico. Depending on where you were coming from and what happened on the way, it could take from 24 hours to a year’s worth of running (How Stuff Works “How it Worked”).
In the nineteenth century, before the American Civil War, slavery was a normal occurrence in most of America. The Underground Railroad was a series of routes in which in enslaved people could escape through. The “railroad” actually began operating in the 1780s but only later became known as the underground railroad when it gained notability and popularity. It was not an actual railroad but a series of routes and safe houses that helped people escape entrapment and find freedom in free states, Canada, Mexico as well as overseas.
3. Divine, Breen, Fredrickson, Williams, eds., America Past and Present Volume II: since 1865 sixth edition (New York: Longman 2002).