The Underground Railroad: kampen for frihed

It was not a real railroad, with tracks and trains. What many people don’t know is that it is not a railroad at all. The Underground Railroad was a secret network. They offer runaway slaves a place to hide, get food or sleep during there travel to freedom. It was the safest way to get further north on the dangerous journey to freedom. Many of these shelters were tunnels or peoples home. The reason we know about the Underground Railroad is from old documents. These documents have survived for over a century. The Underground Railroad begins in 1820 and continued right op to the Civil War. Runaway slaves risked everything for a better live, Canada, Ohio and Indiana, where the most popular places to live. Even though runaway slaves made it to a free states, they still were not guaranteed Security. No one is absolutely sure where the name “underground railroad” came from. Things that are underground are generally invisible. Because the operations of the Underground Railroad were secret, they were invisible to most people. Slaves were bought and sold like ordinary property, like a chair or a cart. Many different kinds of people were involved in the Underground Railroad. There were black people and white people, men and women, people from "slave" states and people from "free" states. There were old people and young people. Everybody who worked with the Underground Railroad took a big risk. If they were caught, they risked a serious punishment, even death. The people who helped slaves escape were called “conductors” or “engineers”. Sometimes was slaves called “passengers”, and sometimes they was called “cargo” or “goods”. If a slave was trying to escape, the punishment could be very severe. Often runaways would be sold to south. Other times, runaways slaves would be beat and forced to do unusual hard work. Sometimes they were sold to a different owner who lived nearby. Sometimes they were simply taken back to their master and returned to work. Their master would never kill the runaways slaves because they should used them to work. The south lost over 100.000 slaves between 1810 and 1850. Through the Underground Railroad escape more than 100.000 enslaved people to freedom