The Underground Railroad

Podcast Transcript

Before the US Civil War, a group of abolitionists didn’t just sit around passively to wait for the end of slavery to arrive.

They took matters into their own hands. They set up a clandestine network that operated over multiple states to bring escaped slaves to freedom.

Their network wasn’t a top-down organization, which centrally organized everything. Rather, it was one of the earliest examples of a decentralized network where the members didn’t even know who else was involved.

Learn more about the Underground Railroad and how it brought thousands of people to freedom on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

The Underground Railroad was neither underground nor a railroad, but it was perhaps the most important abolitionist effort that led to the actual freedom of enslaved people prior to emancipation.

The Underground Railroad was one of the most clever organizations in history in terms of how it was organized and how it operated.

Before I get into the organization of the Underground Railroad, I should start at the beginning.

In a previous episode, I gave an overview of the abolitionist movement in the United States.

As I noted in the episode, opposition to slavery in the United States began as soon as slavery did.

In 1780, Pennsylvania passed the Gradual Abolition Act, becoming the first state to begin the process of ending slavery. This created a clear destination for those seeking freedom.

Concurrently, Quakers in Philadelphia and elsewhere were establishing some of the first formal anti-slavery societies, guided by their religious belief in human equality.

These early efforts were largely individual and spontaneous rather than coordinated. Enslaved people would flee plantations, often aided by sympathetic individuals who provided food, shelter, or directions.

The term “Underground Railroad” wasn’t yet used, but the fundamental patterns of escape and assistance were forming.

At this time, if an escaped slave made it to Pennsylvania, or other states as they passed abolition laws, they were pretty much in the clear.

One of the major changes to the law which led to the development of the Underground Railroad was the Fugitive Slave Act of 1793.

The Fugitive Slave Act of 1793 was a critical catalyst in the development of the Underground Railroad, creating a legal framework that paradoxically intensified the very resistance it was designed to suppress.

The law was part of the broader compromise between Northern and Southern states during the early years of the United States. It was essentially a federal law that codified the constitutional provision in Article IV, Section 2, which required that escaped enslaved individuals be returned to their enslavers, even if they reached free states.

The act stipulated that slave owners could capture escaped individuals anywhere in the United States, that local magistrates were required to hear and decide capture cases, that captured individuals had virtually no legal defense mechanisms, and that only minimal legal documentation was required to claim an individual as an escaped enslaved person.

That meant it was no longer enough to just make it to a free state, which depending on where you were coming from, such as a border area, might have been relatively easy.

After the passage of the act, that was no longer possible. Getting to a free state was no longer a guarantee of freedom, and in fact, law enforcement authorities in freed states were obligated to return anyone caught.

While the act was designed to protect the economic interests of slave owners in the South, it had precisely the opposite effect of what its creators intended. Instead of smoothly facilitating the return of escaped enslaved people, the act sparked a robust, organized resistance movement.

In the early 1800s, Quaker abolitionist Isaac T. Hopper established a network in Philadelphia to aid enslaved individuals seeking freedom. Simultaneously, Quakers in North Carolina formed abolitionist groups that laid the foundation for escape routes and safe houses.

The African Methodist Episcopal Church, established in 1816, was another proactive religious group helping fugitive enslaved people.

Because of the Fugitive Slave Law, however, such people couldn’t openly discuss what they were doing as it would invite unwanted attention and possibly get them in legal trouble. Information about helping escaped slaves was transferred slowly and quietly between individuals.

So at no point was there ever a meeting or a convention where all the abolitionists came together to decide how they would create an organization.

It was a process that developed from the ground up over a period of decades. People who helped escaped slaves had to covertly develop routes, safehouses, and systems of coded messages. Perhaps most importantly, they had to find other people to join the network that they could trust.

The 1820s and 30s saw the development of this network.

Several key developments in this period significantly impacted the Railroad’s growth.

The Missouri Compromise of 1820 created clearer geographical distinctions between free and slave territories, making the destinations for freedom seekers more defined. In 1827, New York finally completed its gradual emancipation process, strengthening the North as a region of freedom.

The term “Underground Railroad” itself emerged during this period. The first documented use appeared in 1831 when an enslaved man named Tice Davids escaped from Kentucky to Ohio. When his former owner couldn’t find him, he reportedly said Davids “must have gone off on an underground road.”

The railroad metaphor took hold as steam railroads were revolutionizing American transportation at this time.

During this period, Canada became increasingly important as a final destination. After Britain abolished slavery throughout its empire in 1834, Canada offered true legal freedom beyond the reach of American laws.

The 1840s saw dramatic growth in the American abolitionist movement, providing more supporters and resources.

The 1850 Fugitive Slave Act, which was part of the Compromise of 1850, made the situation more dangerous by requiring northerners to assist in capturing freedom seekers and imposing harsh penalties on those who helped them escape.

Paradoxically, this law also galvanized abolitionists and drove the Railroad further “underground,” making it more organized and secretive.

The 1850s, the decade preceding the Civil War, was the most active time for the Underground Railroad, and it was during this period that the greatest number of slaves managed to escape to freedom.

When the Underground Railroad was at its peak, how exactly did it work?

The first thing to understand is that there wasn’t a single way that anything was done because of the clandestine and distributed nature of the program.

The vast majority of slaves who escaped via the Underground Railroad did so from border states. This is simply a matter of logistics. Someone in Northern Virginia had a shorter trip to Pennsylvania than did someone from Mississippi.

The Underground Railroad, and the abolitionist movement in general, was almost an entirely northern phenomenon.

There were a few major routes where the Underground Railroad operated.

The eastern corridor went through the Chesapeake Bay, into Pennsylvania and New York, continuing to New England or Canada.

The central route went through Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan into Canada.

The western path went through Illinois and Iowa.

The northbound routes were the ones most frequently used, but there were others. There were people smuggled aboard ships going to islands in the Caribbean as well as southern routes which went into Mexico.

Routes shifted constantly in response to danger or opportunity.

Those who were part of the Underground Railroad adopted the railroad metaphor to describe their operations.

“Conductors” were guides who led people between safe houses
“Stations” or “depots” were hiding places and safe houses
“Station masters” maintained these safe houses
“Passengers,” “cargo,” or “packages” referred to those escaping slavery
“Stockholders” were financial supporters

Safe houses varied widely, from humble cabins to the homes of wealthy abolitionists. Many included secret rooms, false walls, hidden basements, or concealed attics. Some examples that still exist include the Johnson House in Philadelphia, the Levi Coffin House in Fountain City, Indiana, and the John Rankin House in Ripley, Ohio.

Those who ran safehouses might only know who ran the previous and next stops in the railroad. Their knowledge of the overall system was compartmentalized by design so that if they were discovered, only a small portion of the network would be compromised.

If a safehouse was compromised, then fleeing people could just route their journey around it.

Almost all travel took place at night when there were fewer people about and darkness could conceal movement.

Codes were often used so those escaping could navigate between points.

One of the myths that has developed is that of so-called freedom quilts, where patterns in the quilts supposedly contained a code.

This story was invented in 1999 and has been debunked by most historians of the period.

Another myth is that families often escaped together. This is also not true. The vast majority of people escaping slavery were solo, and usually young men. This was because escapes were usually done opportunistically when they had a chance and it wasn’t something they could plan in advance.

If they did plan an escape in advance, they would want to tell as few people as possible to reduce the risk of being turned in.

One of the riskiest stops on the Underground Railroad was the crossing from Detroit to Windsor, Ontario.

It is a rather short distance, but it is really the only place you easily get across the Great Lakes between northern Minnesota and Buffalo, New York.

Because it was a choke point for people trying to get to Canada, it was heavily watched by those trying to catch fugitive slaves. They would sometimes take small boats across, and other times hide on ferries inside cargo containers or disguised themselves as workers on the ship.

Because of the compartmentalized nature of the organization, no one knew who was actually taking part in assisting in the Underground Railroad. It wasn’t until the Civil War that much of the details about who took part and what they did became known.

One of the most important figures was William Still, who has been called the Father of the Underground Railroad. He was a prominent abolitionist, writer, and key figure in the Underground Railroad. Born free in 1821 in New Jersey to parents who were slaves, he moved to Philadelphia, where he became a leader in the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society.

As a “stationmaster” on the Underground Railroad, he helped hundreds of enslaved people escape to freedom, often providing them with shelter, resources, and guidance. Unlike many abolitionists, Still meticulously documented the names, origins, and destinations of the fugitives he assisted, later compiling these records into his 1872 book, The Underground Railroad Records—one of the most valuable firsthand accounts of the movement.

Harriet Tubman earned the nickname “Moses” for her efforts in the Underground Railroad. After escaping slavery herself in 1849, she returned south approximately 13 times, helping about 70 people escape directly and providing instructions to many others. She will be the subject of a future episode.

Levi Coffin was a Quaker from North Carolina who later moved to Indiana and Ohio, Coffin helped over 3,000 people escape slavery, earning him the nickname “President of the Underground Railroad.”

Frederick Douglass, who himself escaped from slavery, was perhaps the leading abolitionist in the country. In addition to his writing and speaking on abolition of slavery, Douglass personally used his home in Rochester, New York, as a safe house. Douglas too will be the subject of a future episode.

Because very few records were kept, the total number of people who escaped to freedom via the Underground Railroad will never be known. However, the estimates usually range between 20,000 to 40,000, with some estimates as high as 100,000.

As important as freeing those thousands of people was, it needs to be put in context. In 1860 at the start of the Civil War, there were approximately 3.9 million slaves in the United States. That means at best, only about 1% of those who were enslaved managed to escape to freedom.

Once the war started, most Union generals refused to return escaped slaves. The Confiscation Act of 1861 made it illegal to return any slave who was forced to fight for the Confederacy. The Confiscation Act of 1862 prohibited the returning of slaves by Union officers.

With the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, all slaves in southern states were able to escape to freedom by just making it to the Union front lines. In 1864, the Fugitive Slave Act was formally repealed.

The Underground Railroad was one of the most important and widespread cases of civil disobedience in American history. The men and women who helped with the Underground Railroad put their lives and fortunes on the line to help people escape to freedom.

The Executive Producer of Everything Everywhere Daily is Charles Daniel. The Associate Producers are Austin Oetken and Cameron Kieffer.

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One of the best!

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