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Student Reading 12.10: The Underground Railroad
When you hear the words Underground Railroad, do you imagine a set of
train tracks that go under the ground like a subway? Most of us do when we first
learn about it. Are you surprised to know the Underground Railroad was not a
railroad at all? There were no trains or tracks, and it wasn’t physically
underground.
The Underground Railroad was a secret system of safe houses, people, and
churches that runaway
slaves used to escape to
freedom in Canada.
Slaves ran away because
they hoped to gain their
freedom. The people who
helped were both white
(Photograph of the John P. Parker House, located in Ripley, Ohio. John Parker
was an active conductor on the Underground Railroad in Southern Ohio.
Courtesy of Ohio Pix.)
people who believed
slavery was wrong and free
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Activity 12.10: The Underground Railroad
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African Americans who also hated slavery. These people were called abolitionists
because they wanted to abolish, or end, slavery. The secret system of getting
slaves to freedom was called the Underground Railroad. On the next page there is
a chart explaining what the secret code words related to the Underground
Railroad meant.
Secret Code Word
What it Meant
A network of safe houses and hiding places to move
Underground Railroad
slaves north to freedom, usually done at night
(underground means secret, not inside the earth).
A person who helped guide slaves.
Conductor
These were often freed slaves and white people who
did not agree with slavery.
Station
A safe house or place runaway slaves could go for help.
Packages or Passengers
Runaway slaves.
Lines
Secret paths.
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Activity 12.10: The Underground Railroad
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You know that Ohio was a free state because it was part of the Northwest
Territory. Kentucky, on the other side of the Ohio River, was a slave state. Many
slaves from Kentucky traveled through Ohio. The escaped slaves were on their
way to Canada and freedom.
Some of the slaves found
freedom in Ohio and other
states in the north.
A law called the Fugitive
Slave Act was passed in 1793,
but the decision to strengthen
it as part of the Compromise
of 1850 made helping escaped
slaves much riskier for those
(Reproduction of a picture depicting a fugitive slave that is typical
of the images that appeared on handbills of southern slave
owners offering rewards for escaped slaves. Courtesy of Ohio Pix.)
on the Underground Railroad.
This new version of the law made it illegal to help runaway slaves. The law also
said that if a suspected escaped slave was found, even in a free state, they had to
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Activity 12.10: The Underground Railroad
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be returned to their owner. This law made most slaves continue north until they
got to Canada. That was the only way slave catchers were not allowed to take
them back to their owners. Despite the law, many people in Ohio still helped
runaway slaves. Abolitionists risked arrest, fines, and imprisonment because they
were breaking the law.
(Photographic broadside offering a $150 reward for an escaped slave named Tom. Courtesy
of Ohio Pix.)
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Activity 12.10: The Underground Railroad
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Reading Comprehension Questions
1. What is an abolitionist?
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2. Ohio was a free state because ________________________________
a. Ohio’s constitution banned slavery.
b. The Northwest Ordinance banned slavery in the Northwest
Territory. Ohio was in the Northwest Territory.
c. It didn’t cost anything to live in Ohio in the 1800s.
3. Where were runaway slaves trying to go? Why?
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Activity 12.10: The Underground Railroad
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Activity 12.10: The Underground Railroad