Mr. O’Donnell’s Class
Chapter 13
Name: _______________________________________ Period:_______ Number: __OD-_____
Historical Context: During the period between 1850 and 1860 American abolitionists
created a network to aide and encouraged slave to escape to Canada. At the same time
professional bounty hunters roamed the nation in attempts to return and catch escaped slaves.
Writing Task: Using the documents and your own knowledge of American history write a
D.B.Q. essay. Explain

how slaves were able to communicate secretly

and escape by using the underground railroad.
Document 1
Ozella McDaniel William’s translation of a slave quilt to historian Jacqueline Tobin and
recorded in the book Hidden in Plain View, A secret story of quilts and the underground
railroad.
1) What might a quilt communicate to a slave?
2) Why wouldn’t the slaves simply write down such a message?
Document 2 A picture of escaped slave Harriet Tubman taken from the Library of Congress.
Tubman was one of the most successful and famous of the conductors on the underground
railroad. Slaves often referred to her as “Moses”.
1) What does this picture suggest about Tubman’s personality? What is she like?
2) What kind of person would travel to the South, over and over again, to free slaves?
3) Why would the other slaves call her “Moses”?
Document 3
Ozella McDaniel William’s translation of a slave quilt to historian Jacqueline Tobin and
recorded in the book Hidden in Plain View, A secret story of quilts and the underground
railroad.
Go Down Moses
When Israel was in Egypt land,
Let my people go;
Oppressed so hard they could not stand,
Let my people go.
“Thus saith the Lord,” bold Moses said,
“Let my people go;
If not, I’ll smite you dead,
Let my people go!”
We need not always weep and mourn,
Let my people go!
And wear slave chains forlorn,
Let my people go!
This world’s a wilderness of woe,
O let my people go!
O let us on to Canaan go!
What a beautiful morning that will be!
O let my people go!
When time breaks up in eternity.
O let my people go!
Chorus:
O go down, Moses
Away down to Egypt’s land
Ant tell King Pharaoh
To let my people go!
1) What was a white person supposed to think the song was about?
2) What was a slave supposed to think the song was about?
3) Who did the “Pharaoh” represent?
4) Using document 2, explain who Moses may have been?
Document 4
Map of underground railroad routes from between 1850 and 1860.
1.) Where do the routes go to?
2.) In your opinion how well organized were the escape routes?
Document 5
The Story of Eliza Harris escape from slavery which was made famous in the book Uncle
Tom’s Cabin.
“I can’t lose my Baby!”
1.) Why did Eliza Harris want to escape?
2) What kind of dangers did she face on her journey?