Underground Railroad Outline

The Underground Railroad was an intricate network of safe houses and routes designed to help African American slaves escape their oppressors. While the exact date of its creation is not known, we do know that it began sometime in the 19th century and continued to exist until it was disbanded in 1865. While it was in existence, the Underground Railroad was the largest anti-slavery movement in America and liberated somewhere between 30,000 and 40,000 slaves. In this essay I will tell you about the reported origin of the Underground Railroad, how it got its name, its structure, one famous conductor, and the experience of escaped slaves who immigrated to Canada.

The first documented occurrence of the Underground Railroad was when George Washington stated that an organized group attempted to liberate one of his slaves. At first the number of escaped slaves was low, but it grew exponentially over time. In an attempt to dissuade them from escaping, slave owners told their slaves that the abolitionists were cannibals. This didn’t work for long though, because more and more slaves started escaping. This was the beginning of a long legacy.

Besides using songs and other descriptive phrases to communicate their intentions, members of the Underground Railroad borrowed terminology from the emerging railway technology to use as code words to disguise their actions. For example: people who ran safe houses were called “Station Masters”; people who donated money and other supplies necessary to help the slaves along the escape route were known as “Stockholders”; “Ticket Masters” travelled through the south and between plantations spreading the word about the Underground Railroad and arranging travel routes for escaping slaves; guides of the slaves were known as