COVeR STORY
BOXED U.
McClellaitj
lies in a be
is a copy c
one that
Henry Br.
in white e.
to freedom in 1.
A Look at the Path to Freedom at the
New Underground Railroad Museum
K
aleb works on a plantation
in the southern United
States during the mid1800s. The young slave faces the
toughest decision of his life. For a
chance at freedom, he must risk
everything and run away from
home. That means leaving behind
his family and ail that is familiar.
What would you do if you were
in Kaleb's shoes? Using an
interactive exhibit, kids who visit
the recently opened National
Underground Railroad Freedom
Center in Cincinnati, Ohio,
can heip Kaleb make a decision.
They can also learn about the
consequences of that decision.
"The exhibit gives kids a sense
ofthe risk and losses that were
part of trying to gain freedom,"
museum official
Stephen
DeVillez told Weekly Reader.
The new museum opened in
August 2004 on the northem bank
ofthe Ohio River. That river once
marked the line between slavery
and freedom. Historians believe
Weekly Reader Edition k
that thousands of slaves who
escaped through the Underground
Railroad from the South, where
slavery was allowed, crossed the
Ohio River.
Hiding Out
The Underground Railroad was
not a real railroad. During the
late 1700s to mid-1800s, the
Underground Raiiroad was
actualiy a secret system of safe
routes that runaway slaves could
use as they fled from the South to
free Northern states, Canada, and
Mexico.
The Underground Railroad
covered hundreds of hidden
routes. Most slaves escaped
through Ohio, Indiana, and
western Pennsylvania. Slaves
made their way to freedom any
way tiiey could. Most hid during
the day and traveled at night.
Along the way, a vast network
of black people and white peopie
calied abolitionists risked their
lives to provide escaped siaves
.with food, ciothing, and shelter.
An abolitionist was someone who
worked to end slavery.
The Underground Railroad got
its name because it operated in
secrecy. Hiding places for siaves
were known as stations. Peopie
cailed station masters provided
slaves with food and shelter.
Other peopie, cailed conductors,
guided siaves to freedom. In
ON THE RUN Ttiis engraving from the
19th century depicts a hunt for a runaway
slave in the southern United States.
A tour g
shows ^
the sla
that was '
rebuilt inside
the Frei
Center.
Kentucky
was taken
apart and
1865, the 13th Amendment to the
U.S. Constitution abolished, or
outlawed, slavery.
Struggle for Freedom
Artifacts, paintings, and murals
are at the heart ofthe Freedom
Center. Along with films, the
exhibits recount the story of
slavery in the United States, the
dangerous road to freedom, and
the continued struggle for liberty
around the world today.
A slave pen found on a farm in
Maysville, Kentucky, serves as
the museum's centerpiece. Built
in 1830, the wooden pen is about
the size of a small house. Slaves
were locked up in the pen for
months before they were sold at
auction to the highest bidder.
Another exhibit includes a
replica, or reproduction, of
a wagon with a fake bottom that
was used to hide and transport
fleeing siaves on the Underground
Railroad. Visitors can aiso crawi
inside a repiica ofthe wooden box
that the siave Henry Brown used
MICHIGAN
INDIANA
The map shows the location of the National
Underground Railroad Freedom Center,
which opened in Cincinnati, Ohio.
to ship himself from Virginia to
Pennsylvania.
"The Underground Raiiroad
wouidn't have existed if it wasn't
for brave peopie who took a risk
to stand up for freedom," said
DeViiiez. "The museum is a
iearning center that teaches
iessons of courage and the fight
for freedom that exists even
today."
THINK CRITICALLY
How did the Underground
Raiiroad shape the United States?
— Top (ttom left): Mike Simons/Getty/Newscom; The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center (3);
Bottom: The Granger Collection; Sidebar: Top: Hulton Archive/Getty Images; Middle: © CORBIS; Botlom: Bettmann/CORBIS
Some
slavery during the mid'1800s.
Harriet Tubman was
a former slave who
became the most
famous conductor of the
Underground Raiiroad.
I From 1850 to 1860, she
led about 300 slaves to freedom. Tubman
once said, "On my Underground Raiiroad,
I [never] run my train off [the] track, and
I never [tost] a passenger."
I Harriet Beecher Stowe
was a teacher and a
minister's wife from Ohio
),
who wrote Uncle Tom's
^rjF
Cabin in 1852. The book
^k
was about a cruel slave
master who beat a slave named Tom to
death. Her book convinced many people
that the horrors of slavery needed to end.
^
W.
^ Frederick Dougiass was
born a siave in Maryland
in 1817. He escaped in
1838 to New York and
moved to Massachusetts,
where he founded The
North Star. It was one of the first African
American abolitionist newspapers that
spoke out against slavery.
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