The Underground Railroad In The 1800's
The thought of being an African American slave in the 1860’s is a terrifying thought for most people. The struggles they faced in order to achieve were very extreme. Luckily there were people who did not agree with the way African Americans were treated back then. There was an escape route called the Underground Railroad. Contrary to what it sounds like, the Underground railroad was not a railroad nor one single route. It was a combination of secret escape trails for slaves to use that lead to 14 different free states. There were many things that contributed to the workings of the Underground Railroad such as famous historical influences that helped slaves, how the routes worked, and punishments to the slaves for trying to escape to freedom.
…show more content…
Not many people knew how it worked. “The escape routes led to 14 different states” (History.net). This gave slaves the opportunity to go to whichever state they felt was most safe and closest to them. Researches do not know exactly how many routes there were but they think there were at least 29 different ones. “While the number is often debated, some believe that as many as 100,000 slaves escaped on the Underground Railroad between 1800 and 1865,” (Teacher.scholastic.com). Using these escapes their and their family’s life tremendously. While the slaves were traveling to safety they had to stop at safe houses overnight. There were people who planned to have the slaves stay and sleep at these locations in order to not get caught. These locations could be museums, churches, or even some people’s …show more content…
What happened to them once they got back to their plantation? If someone saw a slave that looked suspicious they could turn him or her in for money rewards. Mentalfloss.com states that in the 1860’s Harriet Tubman’s reward for whoever caught her was $40,000. That is close to $1,000,000 in today's money. Other slaves could be anywhere near $5,000 to $40,000 like Harriet in the 1860’s. After people caught the slaves they would often return them to their original state and collect the reward money. An abolitionist in that era might have helped the slave if there was no way they could get caught. Something that did not happen all that often was that if someone saw a slave escaping they would not do anything. People might have done this because they did not want to get involved with the slaves and their
Not many people knew how it worked. “The escape routes led to 14 different states” (History.net). This gave slaves the opportunity to go to whichever state they felt was most safe and closest to them. Researches do not know exactly how many routes there were but they think there were at least 29 different ones. “While the number is often debated, some believe that as many as 100,000 slaves escaped on the Underground Railroad between 1800 and 1865,” (Teacher.scholastic.com). Using these escapes their and their family’s life tremendously. While the slaves were traveling to safety they had to stop at safe houses overnight. There were people who planned to have the slaves stay and sleep at these locations in order to not get caught. These locations could be museums, churches, or even some people’s …show more content…
What happened to them once they got back to their plantation? If someone saw a slave that looked suspicious they could turn him or her in for money rewards. Mentalfloss.com states that in the 1860’s Harriet Tubman’s reward for whoever caught her was $40,000. That is close to $1,000,000 in today's money. Other slaves could be anywhere near $5,000 to $40,000 like Harriet in the 1860’s. After people caught the slaves they would often return them to their original state and collect the reward money. An abolitionist in that era might have helped the slave if there was no way they could get caught. Something that did not happen all that often was that if someone saw a slave escaping they would not do anything. People might have done this because they did not want to get involved with the slaves and their