Underground Railroad for Kids: From Slavery to Freedom with 21 Activities
Missouri Compromise admits Missouri 1820 as a slave state and Maine as a free state 1829 The Appeal by David Walker urges slaves to revolt 1830s First uses of the term Underground Railroad 1833 American Anti slavery Society founded 1842 Dawn settlement founded 1849 Harriet Tubman escapes slavery Elgin settlement founded 1852 Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe published U S Supreme Court's Dred Scott decision declares that 1857 blacks are not citizens U S population of 31 4 million includes 4 million 1860 enslaved persons Abraham Lincoln elected the sixteenth U S president Congress rules that black soldiers must receive the same 1864 pay as white soldiers Fourteenth Amendment grants African Americans U S 1868 citizenship Fifteenth Amendment grants African American men vot 1870 ing rights
Preface A Narrow Escape and a Secret Network hen Alfred Thornton first saw two men walking toward him one day in 1858 he wondered what they wanted As they got nearer Thornton recognized them as a local consta ble or lawman and a slave trader Now he was nervous Alfred Thornton was a slave who'd lived on the Shinn plantation in Vir ginia all his 21 years He knew that a slave trader coming for him meant only one thing and it was about the worst thing that could happen to a slave Thornton's master had sold him That slave trader was coming to take young Thornton away and the constable was there to make sure Thornton went without a fight Dread began to fill Thornton Being sold meant he'd never see his mother father and friends ever again He'd be moved to a new plantation far away Thornton knew that the slave trader would take him into the Deep South Everyone had heard how slaves were quickly worked to death on huge cotton plantations down there The two men were coming
ALFRED THORNTON BARELY ESCAPES CAPTURE BY A LAWMAN AND A SLAVE TRADER IN 1858 In the instant before the lawman and the slave trader grabbed Thornton the young slave took off I flew Thornton said I took off my hat and run took off my jacket and run harder took off my vest and doubled my pace the constable and the trader both on the chase hot foot The trader fired two barrels of his revolver after me but I never stopped running Thornton ran toward a pond He jumped in and hid underwa ter I kept my head just above water and hid the rest part of my body for more than two hours While hiding Thornton thought about his next move I retty soon made up my mind in the water to try and get to a free state and go to Canada but I didn't know which way to travel Alfred Thornton planned on the North Star guiding him north He tried to use the Big Dipper constellation to point out the North Star like the old Follow the Drinking Gourd song explained But a week of rainy weather hid the North Star behind clouds Thornton spent night after night walking and wandering He frequently lost his way rested little and ate even
But Alfred Thornton kept going He finally managed to travel nearly 200 miles to the free state of Pennsylvania Once in Phil adelphia he was helped by a group of people that secretly helped slaves escape Thornton got on the Underground Railroad It wasn't a real railroad and it didn t run underground But the name fit Like anything underground the Underground Railroad was mysterious and often difficult to find Like a railroad it quickly took people where they wanted to go The Underground Railroad was a secret way that slaves used to escape It was a loose network of people pathways and places that helped slaves reach freedom C To help keep its people and places secret travelers and work ers along the Underground Railroad often spoke or wrote using code words copied from real train travel Fugitive slaves were called passengers travelers baggage Or cargo Under ground Railroad conductors like the famous Harriet Tubman were people who worked in the Underground Railroad to guide runaways to freedom People who mapped out routes arranged passage and made sure the way was safe were called Underground Railroad agents Safe houses where runaways were sheltered were called stations A person who ran a safe house was called a stationmaster Brakemen helped fugitives start new lives after they came to their final stops in free states or in Canada The Underground Railroad helped thousands of runaway slaves like Alfred Thornton escape slavery It was a oneway ticket to freedom All
