The surreptitious Underground Railroad was filled with confidential routes that runaway slaves took to the North for freedom. The leaders of the Railroad were called conductors. Conductors consisted of an African American male or female that had enough courage to sneak into the slave territories and convoy more than a few slaves to the North. The conductors had to rely on others to help them through the process of helping slaves escape. The journey to freedom would take more than one day, because of this the conductors would have to rely on black and white homesteads. Homesteads can also be known as “stations” simply meaning, a place to hide and feed the slaves on the journey. The unbiased author of this story, Benjamin Quarles, has once said that “the underground railroad is the most effective means of undermining the slave system” Oates, S. (2003). Although it may seem as if the escaped slaves main goal was to go to the North, it has been proven wrong. Even if the African Americans …show more content…
Tubman was born as a slave in a family of eleven. Until her teen years Tubman was a house slave working as a maid and nurse. Once she became a teen she was sent out in a field with the rest of the older slaves. One day Tubman had a life changing experience the was her breaking point. One of the slave masters threw a two-pound weight aiming at one of the slaves in the field. Harriot being heroic as she is, blocked the weights and ending up hitting her right in the head. Although she recovered with full strength, the blow to her head was so severe that she soon became prone to seizures of deep and sudden sleep. After her injury her slave master soon became ill and passed away in 1849. The rumors of the owners land getting sold putting all of the slaves on edge leading Tubman to escape. Once Tubman escaped in 1849 to Pennsylvania, she went back numerous times to save over two-hundred