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The Underground Railroad Research Paper

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Judy Chang 25 March 2016 Period 2 The Cost of Freedom: The Underground Railroad Steal away to Jesus? Steal away, steal away home! I ain’t got long to stay here! My Lord calls me! He calls me by the thunder! The trumpet sound it in my soul! I ain’t got long to stay here! (unknown) This song meant everything to me. It meant freedom, life or death, and the ability to express myself. It meant that I would be leaving soon, to run away from my master under the Northern stars. My name is Nathaniel Grant, and I was a former slave to the white man named David Alacaster. I lived in the deep south of Georgia in the cotton fields along with many other slaves, who are now part of my family. I’m not sure what I would do without them. My …show more content…

I was 21 years old, and I was ready to be on my own. I was preparing for the journey of my life. Not only was I packed with what little belongings with me, but I was ready to seek the world outside of the fields. The days get dark late in the summer, and the other slaves were winding in for the night. I had not told the other slaves about my plans, but I will tell my closest friends tonight. The Underground Railroad was a secret way of helping slaves escape slave territory to free states. There were no railroads nor was it underground. People such as abolitionists and free blacks who helped the slaves were called stationmasters. The houses that fed and hid slaves were called stations. Each person knew a small section of the railroad. His or her goal was to hide the slaves until the coast was clear to send the slaves off to the next station. That evening I bid my friends goodbye. Tears were shed, especially when I got to Aunt Henrietta. She gave me a piece of gold as a goodbye gift. I did not think it was the best gift to give to a runaway slave, but I did not object. She was my only mother, and I thanked her dearly for everything that she has done for me. My gift to her was a crown of beautiful flowers that I had picked from my master’s garden. Aunt Henrietta’s eyes glowed as I placed the crown gingerly on her gray hairs. She smiled, and kissed me, whispering, “The cost of freedom is great, use it

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(USHistory.org , 2016 ) “ . There were so many conductors but she was one of the best ones . In the story it said " Perhaps the most outstanding ‘conductor’ of the Underground Railroad was Harriet Tubman.” ( ushistory.org , 2016 ) . The conductors would help the slaves go from the south to the north

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The Underground Railroad was helpful to slaves because it helped them escape and be free. Slaves not only wanted to be free they also wanted their families to be free. The Underground Railroad did just that. The Underground Railroad was not underground nor a railroad it was just called underground because of its secretive nature and railroad because of the emerging transportation. Harriet Tubman was a women who wanted to be free!

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The detailed descriptions included in primary sources, along with the descriptive and emotional illustrations included in graphic history are crucial elements in studying and understanding the process and history of the transatlantic slave trade. Rafe Blaufarb and Liz Clarke tie both of these together to help readers truly understand this historic tragedy in the book, Inhuman Traffick: The International Struggle Against the Transatlantic Slave Trade. Although different than the standard book that may be used, that simply spews information out in an uncreative and somewhat boring way, this book is a tool that can be chosen in classrooms to teach different aspects of the slave trade. Working together, the primary sources and graphic history

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Created in the early 1800s and assisted by people associated with in the Abolitionist Movement, the underground railroad assisted thousands of slaves departure from enslavement. By one guess of 100,000 slaves make a run from enslavement in the South between 1810 and 1850.The Underground Railroad was a system of classified passages and secure homes used by 19th-century slaves of African ancestors in the United States to make a run to free states and Canada with the help of abolitionists and colleagues who were thoughtful to their purpose. Harriet Tubman assisted hundreds of escaped slaves run to freedom. She never misplaced one of them along the way. As a wanted slave herself, she was assisted along the Underground Railroad by another famous

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Frederick Douglass, born a slave and later the most influential African American leader of the 1800s, addresses the hypocrisy of the US of maintaining slavery with its upheld ideals being freedom and independence on July 4th, 1852. Douglass builds his argument by using surprising contrasts, plain facts, and provocative antithesis. Introducing his subject, Douglass reminds his audience about the dark side of America for slaves, in sharp, surprising contrasts with the apparent progressivity within the nation. He first notices “the disparity,” that “the sunlight that brought life and healing to you, has brought stripes and deaths to me,” as an African-American former slave. It is surprising for the audience to hear that the Sun does not bring him any prosperity, that the Sun, the source of life on earth, brings him destruction.

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This will get the listeners thinking about what sincerely is happening with the issue of slavery and stimulate interest in the abolitionist mindset. Additionally, the author laconically questions, “What to the American Slave is your Fourth

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Over time, our perceptions of freedom change. Escaping a cotton field may have been considered freedom in the nineteenth century, yet it could not be done without endurance. While our perceptions of freedom change, it’s likely that our ideas about how people obtain freedom do not change much. In “A Worn Path,” Eudora Welty describes a woman’s journey along a path to freedom, and she describes the obstacles that the woman encounters along the way. That woman, Phoenix Jackson, is able to overcome these obstacles despite her old age.

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It was a cold night in the small shed we were forced to sleep in. It was dirty, smelly, and dark. The only thing we had to drink was a bottle filled with only about thirty-two ounces of rain water. Some other slaves were nibbling on small pieces of bread that had bits of mold on them. Slaves weren't treated fairly at all.

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Literature is often credited with the ability to enhance one’s understanding of history by providing a view of a former conflict. In doing so, the reader is able to gain both an emotional and logistical understanding of a historically significant event. Additionally, literature provides context that can help the reader develop a deeper understanding of the political climate of a time period. Within the text of The Underground Railroad, by Colson Whitehead’s, the use of literary elements such as imagery, metaphor, and paradox amplifies the reader’s understanding of early 19th century slavery and its role in the South of the United States of America. Throughout the novel, Whitehead utilizes a girl named Cora to navigate the political and personal consequences of escaping slavery, the Underground Railroad, and her transition

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The Underground Railroad was made around 1820 by multiple people that were not just abolitionists. The Underground Railroad has numerous routes that went from the South all the way to Canada. The routes would also branch off to Northern states where there were still some slavery but not as unsympathetic. “The Underground Railroad worked as a series of networks. The journey North was an extremely long route and the Underground Railroad provided depots or safe houses along the way” (Hudson 2).

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As many events occur throughout the novel, the reader is able to understand a first-hand understanding of a historical period of time, while also gaining the emotions and logistics of consequential personal experiences. Therefore, from these experiences the reader may achieve a greater understanding of history itself which would not have been possible without the rhetorical devices found inside literature and the truth of Cora’s struggles which were analogous to other slaves of the time, may never have received the general comprehension that it

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In the nineteenth century, slavery was at its peak, reaching millions of slaves in the nation by the mid-1800s. As messages of equality were presented by free blacks, abolitionists, and Evangelical preachers, slaves in the south began to fight for their freedom. Slaves in America fought in both organized and unorganized ways, which eventually freed many slaves and enticed reactions from both pro-abolitionists and anti-abolitionists. Many slaves organized revolts to fight for their freedom. The first of these was held in 1800 by Gabriel Porter.

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The Underground Railroad. A metaphor as it was, it was neither a railroad nor was it even underground. In the time where slavery became a divided issue with the status of legality in various parts of the country, the underground railroad found its beginnings through collective organized efforts from abolitionists and allies alike to help enslaved African americans to escape to territories and states where they could be free from slavery. It was a loosely-developed system that also included series of routes led by “conductors” such as Harriet Tubman, for escaping slaves, or “passengers”.

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With this, Douglass is addressing the topic of slavery and whether to abolish it or not. And goes about telling the hardships he went through.

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