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97-555: Although Illinois was a free state and Alton was linked to the Underground Railroad , the city also had a large pro-slavery faction, including slave catchers and others dependent on slaves. The former earned money by their capture of slaves' escaping across the Mississippi from Missouri. Southern Illinois had numerous slavery supporters, where farmers used slave labor for cultivation. On November 7, 1837, abolition opponents mobbed

194-611: A Mexican port from New Orleans , Louisiana and Galveston, Texas . There were some who transported cotton to Brownsville, Texas on wagons and then crossed into Mexico at Matamoros . Sometimes someone would come 'long and try to get us to run up north and be free. We used to laugh at that. —Former slave Felix Haywood, interviewed in 1937 for the federal Slave Narrative Project. Many traveled through North Carolina, Arkansas, Alabama, Louisiana, or Mississippi toward Texas and ultimately Mexico. People fled slavery from Indian Territory (now Oklahoma). Black Seminoles traveled on

291-500: A charred bullfrog. Other runaways escaped into the swamps to wash off their scent. Most escapes occurred at night when the runaways could hide under the cover of darkness. Another method freedom seekers used to prevent capture was carrying forged free passes. During slavery, free Blacks showed proof of their freedom by carrying a pass that proved they were free. Free Blacks and enslaved people created forged free passes for freedom seekers as they traveled through slave states. Despite

388-540: A destination where they were able to remain free." It was known as a railroad, using rail terminology such as stations and conductors, because that was the transportation system in use at the time. The Underground Railroad did not have a headquarters or governing body, nor were there published guides, maps, pamphlets, or even newspaper articles. It consisted of meeting points, secret routes, transportation, and safe houses , all of them maintained by abolitionist sympathizers and communicated by word of mouth , although there

485-694: A forged passport from a Kentucky judge. The Spanish refused to return them back to the United States. More freedom seekers traveled through Texas the following year. Enslaved people were emancipated by crossing the border from the United States into Mexico, which was a Spanish colony into the nineteenth century. In the United States, enslaved people were considered property. That meant that they did not have rights to marry and they could be sold away from their partners. They also did not have rights to fight inhumane and cruel punishment. In New Spain , fugitive slaves were recognized as humans. They were allowed to join

582-655: A former slave, were agents on the Underground Railroad and helped other slaves escape from slavery crossing the Mississippi River. Routes were often purposely indirect to confuse pursuers. Most escapes were by individuals or small groups; occasionally, there were mass escapes, such as with the Pearl incident . The journey was often considered particularly difficult and dangerous for women or children. Children were sometimes hard to keep quiet or were unable to keep up with

679-411: A group. In addition, enslaved women were rarely allowed to leave the plantation, making it harder for them to escape in the same ways that men could. Although escaping was harder for women, some women were successful. One of the most famous and successful conductors (people who secretly traveled into slave states to rescue those seeking freedom) was Harriet Tubman , a woman who escaped slavery. Due to

776-579: A leader of the abolitionists in Illinois and carried on the struggle. Elijah Lovejoy was considered a martyr by abolitionists across the country. This article about an Illinois newspaper is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Underground Railroad The Underground Railroad was used by freedom seekers from slavery in the United States and was generally an organized network of secret routes and safe houses. Enslaved Africans and African Americans escaped from slavery as early as

873-547: A message was sent to the next station to let the station master know the escapees were on their way. They would stop at the so-called "stations" or "depots" during the day and rest. The stations were often located in basements, barns, churches, or in hiding places in caves. The resting spots where the freedom seekers could sleep and eat were given the code names "stations" and "depots", which were held by "station masters". "Stockholders" gave money or supplies for assistance. Using biblical references, fugitives referred to Canada as

970-557: A part of the foodways of Black Americans called soul food . The majority of freedom seekers that escaped from slavery did not have help from an abolitionist. Although there are stories of black and white abolitionists helping freedom seekers escape from slavery, many escapes were unaided. Other Underground Railroad escape routes for freedom seekers were maroon communities . Maroon communities were hidden places, such as wetlands or marshes, where escaped slaves established their own independent communities. Examples of maroon communities in

1067-584: A route from Natchitoches, Louisiana to Monclova , Mexico in 2010 that is roughly the southern Underground Railroad path. It is also believed that El Camino Real de los Tejas was a path for freedom. It was made a National Historic Trail by President George W. Bush in 2004. Some journeyed on their own without assistance, and others were helped by people along the southern Underground Railroad. Assistance included guidance, directions, shelter, and supplies. Black people, black and white couples, and anti-slavery German immigrants provided support, but most of

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1164-598: A southwestern route from Florida into Mexico. Going overland meant that the last 150 miles or so were traversed through the difficult and extremely hot terrain of the Nueces Strip located between the Nueces River and the Rio Grande . There was little shade and a lack of potable water in this brush country. Escapees were more likely to survive the trip if they had a horse and a gun. The National Park Service identified

1261-708: A time. Free and enslaved black men occupied as mariners (sailors) helped enslaved people escape from slavery by providing a ride on their ship, providing information on the safest and best escape routes, and safe locations on land, and locations of trusted people for assistance. Enslaved African-American mariners had information about slave revolts occurring in the Caribbean, and relayed this news to enslaved people they had contact with in American ports. Free and enslaved African-American mariners assisted Harriet Tubman in her rescue missions. Black mariners provided to her information about

1358-630: Is a general term for a crustacean , such as prawn , shrimp , crab , lobster , etc. While its Western name comes from the star pattern's resemblance to a kitchen ladle , in Filipino , the Big Dipper and its sister constellation the Little Dipper are more often associated with the tabo , a one-handled water pot used ubiquitously in Filipino households and bathrooms for purposes of personal hygiene. In

1455-468: Is also a report of a numeric code used to encrypt messages. Participants generally organized in small, independent groups; this helped to maintain secrecy. People escaping enslavement would move north along the route from one way station to the next. "Conductors" on the railroad came from various backgrounds and included free-born blacks , white abolitionists, the formerly enslaved (either escaped or manumitted ), and Native Americans. Believing that slavery

1552-462: Is called either the "Great Wagon" ( Grande Carro ) or "Orsa Maggiore" ("Greater Bear"). Romanian and most Slavic languages also call it the "Great Wagon". In Hungarian , it is commonly known as "Göncöl's Wagon" ( Göncölszekér ) or, less often, "Big Göncöl" ( Nagy Göncöl ) after a táltos ( shaman ) in Hungarian mythology who carried medicine that could cure any disease. In Finnish ,

1649-406: Is the star Alcor (80 UMa ). Together they are known as the "Horse and Rider". At fourth magnitude, Alcor would normally be relatively easy to see with the unaided eye, but its proximity to Mizar renders it more difficult to resolve, and it has served as a traditional test of sight. Mizar itself has four components and thus enjoys the distinction of being part of an optical binary as well as being

1746-466: The Canada–U.S. border . Freedom seekers (runaway slaves) foraged, fished, and hunted for food on their journey to freedom on the Underground Railroad. With these ingredients, they prepared one-pot meals (stews), a West African cooking method. Enslaved and free Black people left food outside their front doors to provide nourishment to the freedom seekers. The meals created on the Underground Railroad became

1843-524: The Detroit River . Thomas Downing was a free Black man in New York and operated his Oyster restaurant as a stop on the Underground Railroad. Freedom seekers (runaway slaves) escaping slavery and seeking freedom hid in the basement of Downing's restaurant. Enslaved people helped freedom seekers escape from slavery. Arnold Gragstone was enslaved and helped runaways escape from slavery by guiding them across

1940-654: The Great Cypress Swamp in southern Sussex County, Delaware . African Americans escaping slavery were able to hide in swamps, and the water washed off the scent of enslaved runaways making it difficult for dogs to track their scent. As early as the 18th centuries, mixed blood communities formed. In Maryland , freedom seekers escaped to Shawnee villages located along the Potomac River . Slaveholders in Virginia and Maryland filed numerous complaints and court petitions against

2037-554: The Mexican–American War of the 1840s, captured and returned fleeing enslaved people to their slaveholders. The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 made it a criminal act to aid fleeing escaping enslaved people in free states . Similarly, the United States government wanted to enact a treaty with Mexico so that they would help capture and return bonds-people. Mexico, however, continued their practice to allow anyone that crossed their borders to be free. Slave catchers continued to cross

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2134-530: The Mississippi River near St. Louis, Missouri to the free state of Illinois. To assist with the escape were white antislavery activists and an African American guide from Illinois named "Freeman." However, the escape was not successful because word of the escape reached police agents and slave catchers who waited across the river on the Illinois shore. Breckenridge, Burrows and Meachum were arrested. Prior to this escape attempt, Mary Meachum and her husband John,

2231-579: The Ohio River for their freedom. William Still , sometimes called "The Father of the Underground Railroad", helped hundreds of slaves escape (as many as 60 a month), sometimes hiding them in his Philadelphia home. He kept careful records, including short biographies of the people, that contained frequent railway metaphors. He maintained correspondence with many of them, often acting as a middleman in communications between people who had escaped slavery and those left behind. He later published these accounts in

2328-652: The Sámi anthem , which begins with the words Guhkkin davvin dávggáid vuolde sabmá suolggai Sámieanan , which translates to "Far to the north, under the Bow, the Land of the Sámi slowly comes into view." The Bow is an important part of the Sámi traditional narrative about the night sky, in which various hunters try to chase down Sarva , the Great Reindeer, a large constellation that takes up almost half

2425-575: The colonial militia . After King Charles II of Spain proclaimed Spanish Florida a safe haven for escaped slaves from British North America, they began escaping to Florida by the hundreds from as far north as New York . The Spanish established Fort Mose for free Blacks in the St. Augustine area in 1738. In 1806, enslaved people arrived at the Stone Fort in Nacogdoches, Texas seeking freedom. They arrived with

2522-507: The north of the night sky produced the adjective " septentrional " (literally, pertaining to seven plow oxen ) in Romance languages and English, meaning "Northern [Hemisphere]". " Follow the Drinkin' Gourd " is an African American folk song first published in 1928. The "Drinkin' Gourd" is thought to refer to the Big Dipper. Folklore has it that escaped southern slaves in the United States used

2619-656: The trans-Appalachian west . During the colonial ear in New Spain and in the Seminole Nation in Florida, African Americans and Indigenous marriages occurred. Beginning in the 16th century, Spaniards brought enslaved Africans to New Spain , including Mission Nombre de Dios in what would become the city of St. Augustine in Spanish Florida . Over time, free Afro-Spaniards took up various trades and occupations and served in

2716-526: The " Promised Land " or "Heaven" and the Ohio River , which marked the boundary between slave states and free states , as the " River Jordan ". Although the freedom seekers sometimes traveled on boat or train, they usually traveled on foot or by wagon, sometimes lying down, covered with hay or similar products, in groups of one to three escapees. Some groups were considerably larger. Abolitionist Charles Turner Torrey and his colleagues rented horses and wagons and often transported as many as 15 or 20 people at

2813-705: The "Bear" as the nymph Callisto , changed into a she-bear by Hera , the jealous wife of Zeus . In Ireland and the United Kingdom, this pattern is known as the Plough (Irish: An Camchéachta – the bent plough). The symbol of the Starry Plough has been used as a political symbol by Irish Republican and Irish left wing movements. Former names include the Great Wain (i.e., wagon ), Arthur's Wain or Butcher's Cleaver. The terms Charles's Wain and Charles his Wain are derived from

2910-545: The "Dipper or Ladle" descriptors used in the United States with "Charles's Wagon or Wain" which were common in England. Descriptions of "the dipper" appear in American astronomy textbooks throughout the 19th century. Within Ursa Major the stars of the Big Dipper have Bayer designations in consecutive Greek alphabetical order from the bowl to the handle. In the same line of sight as Mizar , but about one light-year beyond it,

3007-553: The "Great Bear" ( Großer Bär ). Likewise, in the North Germanic languages , it is known by variations of "Charles's Wagon" ( Karlavagnen , Karlsvogna , or Karlsvognen ), but also the "Great Bear" ( Stora Björn ), and to the Norse pagans , it was known as Óðins vagn ; " Woden 's wagon". In Dutch , its official name is the "Great Bear" ( Grote Beer ), but it is popularly known as the " Saucepan " ( Steelpannetje ). In Italian, it

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3104-415: The "passengers" were not sent on the usual train, but rather via Reading, Pennsylvania . In this case, the authorities were tricked into going to the regular location (station) in an attempt to intercept the runaways, while Still met them at the correct station and guided them to safety. They eventually escaped either further north or to Canada, where slavery had been abolished during the 1830s. To reduce

3201-580: The 16th century and many of their escapes were unaided, but the network of safe houses operated by agents generally known as the Underground Railroad began to organize in the 1780s among Abolitionist Societies in the North . It ran north and grew steadily until the Emancipation Proclamation was signed in 1863 by President Abraham Lincoln . The escapees sought primarily to escape into free states , and from there to Canada. The network, primarily

3298-594: The August 10, 1842, edition of Tocsin of Liberty , an abolitionist newspaper published in Albany. He also wrote that the 1879 book Sketches in the History of the Underground Railroad said the phrase was mentioned in an 1839 Washington newspaper article and that the book's author said 40 years later that he had quoted the article from memory as closely as he could. Members of the Underground Railroad often used specific terms, based on

3395-408: The Big Dipper as a point of reference to go north. A mythological origin of the asterism was described in a children's story which circulated in the United States in various versions. A version of this story taken from the pacifist magazine Herald of Peace was translated into Russian and incorporated into Leo Tolstoy 's compilation A Calendar of Wisdom . The Constellation was also used on

3492-478: The Big Dipper. The Chinese name for Alpha Ursae Majoris is Beidou Yi ( Chinese : 北斗一 ; pinyin : Běi Dǒu yī ; lit. 'Beidou One') and Tianshu ( Chinese : 天樞 ; pinyin : Tiān Shū ; lit. 'Star of Celestial Pivot'). The asterism name was mentioned in Warring States period (c. 475–221 BCE) stellar records, in which the asterism is described to have seven stars in

3589-795: The Catholic Church and marry. They also were protected from inhumane and cruel punishment. During the War of 1812 , U.S. Army general Andrew Jackson invaded Spanish Florida in part because enslaved people had run away from plantations in the Carolinas and Georgia to Florida. Some of the runaways joined the Black Seminoles who later moved to Mexico. However, Mexico sent mixed signals on its position against slavery. Sometimes it allowed enslaved people to be returned to slavery and it allowed Americans to move into Spanish territorial property in order to populate

3686-487: The Dipper's shape, with the bowl opening up and the handle becoming more bent. In 50,000 years the Dipper will no longer exist as we know it, but be re-formed into a new Dipper facing the opposite way. The stars Alkaid to Phecda will then constitute the bowl, while Phecda, Merak, and Dubhe will be the handle. Not only are the stars in the Big Dipper easily found themselves, they may also be used as guides to other stars outside of

3783-561: The Mexican military. Big Dipper#Guidepost The Big Dipper ( US , Canada ) or the Plough ( UK , Ireland ) is a large asterism consisting of seven bright stars of the constellation Ursa Major ; six of them are of second magnitude and one, Megrez (δ), of third magnitude. Four define a "bowl" or "body" and three define a "handle" or "head". It is recognized as a distinct grouping in many cultures. The North Star ( Polaris ),

3880-708: The Niagara River and connected New York to Canada. Enslaved runaways used the bridge to escape their bondage, and Harriet Tubman used the bridge to take freedom seekers into Canada. Those traveling via the New York Adirondacks , sometimes via Black communities like Timbuctoo, New York , entered Canada via Ogdensburg , on the St. Lawrence River , or on Lake Champlain ( Joshua Young assisted). The western route, used by John Brown among others, led from Missouri west to free Kansas and north to free Iowa, then east via Chicago to

3977-539: The North hid freedom seekers in their churches and homes. Historian Cheryl Janifer Laroche explained in her book, Free Black Communities and the Underground Railroad The Geography of Resistance that: "Blacks, enslaved and free, operated as the main actors in the central drama that was the Underground Railroad." Laroche further explained how some authors center white abolitionists and white people involved in

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4074-565: The North, where the Americans would then establish cotton plantations, bringing enslaved people to work the land. In 1829, Mexican president Vicente Guerrero (who was a mixed race black man) formally abolished slavery in Mexico. Freedom seekers from Southern plantations in the Deep South , particularly from Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas, escaped slavery and headed for Mexico. At that time, Texas

4171-560: The Ottawa. In Upper Sandusky , Wyandot people allowed a maroon community of freedom seekers in their lands called Negro Town for four decades. In the 18th and 19th centuries in areas around the Chesapeake Bay and Delaware , Nanticoke people hid freedom seekers in their villages. The Nanticoke people lived in small villages near the Pocomoke River ; the river rises in several forks in

4268-673: The Panama route. Slaveholders used the Panama route to reach California. In Panama slavery was illegal and Black Panamanians encouraged enslaved people from the United States to escape into the local city of Panama. Freedom seekers created methods to throw off the slave catchers ' bloodhounds from tracking their scent. One method was using a combination of hot pepper, lard, and vinegar on their shoes. In North Carolina freedom seekers put turpentine on their shoes to prevent slave catchers' dogs from tracking their scents, in Texas escapees used paste made from

4365-756: The Right Wall of the Purple Forbidden Enclosure which surrounds the Northern Celestial Pole , although numerous other groupings and names have been made over the centuries. Similarly, each star has a distinct name, which likewise has varied over time and depending upon the asterism being constructed. The personification of the Big Dipper itself is also known as " Doumu " ( 斗母 ) in Chinese folk religion and Taoism , and Marici in Buddhism . In Vietnam ,

4462-601: The Shawnee and Nanticoke for hiding freedom seekers in their villages. Odawa people also accepted freedom seekers into their villages. The Odawa transferred the runaways to the Ojibwe who escorted them to Canada. Some enslaved people who escaped slavery and fled to Native American villages stayed in their communities. White pioneers who traveled to Kentucky and the Ohio Territory saw " Black Shawnees " living with Indigenous people in

4559-644: The Texas Runaway Slave Project at Stephen F. Austin State University . Advertisements were placed in newspapers offering rewards for the return of their "property". Slave catchers traveled through Mexico. There were Black Seminoles , or Los Mascogos who lived in northern Mexico who provided armed resistance. Sam Houston , president of the Republic of Texas , was the slaveholder to Tom who ran away. He headed to Texas and once there he enlisted in

4656-400: The United States between 1672 and 1864. The history of maroons showed how the enslaved resisted enslavement by living in free independent settlements. Historical archeologist Dan Sayer says that historians downplay the importance of maroon settlements and place valor in white involvement in the Underground Railroad, which he argues shows a racial bias, indicating a "...reluctance to acknowledge

4753-609: The United States by slave hunters. Freedom seekers that were taken on ferries to Mexican ports were aided by Mexican ship captains, one of whom was caught in Louisiana and indicted for helping enslaved people escape. Knowing the repercussions of running away or being caught helping someone runaway, people were careful to cover their tracks, and public and personal records about fugitive slaves are scarce. In greater supply are records by people who promoted slavery or attempted to catch fugitive slaves. More than 2,500 escapes are documented by

4850-640: The United States include the Black Seminole communities in Florida, as well as groups that lived in the Great Dismal Swamp in Virginia and in the Okefenokee swamp of Georgia and Florida, among others. In the 1780s, Louisiana had a maroon community in the bayous of Saint Malo . The leader of the Saint Malo maroon community was Jean Saint Malo , a freedom seeker who escaped to live among other runaways in

4947-451: The antislavery movement as the main factors for freedom seekers escapes and overlook the important role of free Black communities. In addition, author Diane Miller states: "Traditionally, historians have overlooked the agency of African Americans in their own quest for freedom by portraying the Underground Railroad as an organized effort by white religious groups, often Quakers, to aid 'helpless' slaves." Historian Larry Gara argues that many of

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5044-500: The asterism. Thus it is often the starting point for introducing Northern Hemisphere beginners to the night sky : Additionally, the Dipper may be used as a guide to telescopic objects: The "Seven Stars" referenced in the Bible 's Book of Amos may refer to these stars or, more likely, to the Pleiades . In traditional Hindu astronomy , the seven stars of the Big Dipper are identified with

5141-438: The best escape routes and helped her on her rescue missions. In New Bedford, Massachusetts , freedom seekers stowed away on ships leaving the docks with the assistance of Black and white crewmembers and hid in the ships' cargoes during their journey to freedom. Enslaved people living near rivers escaped on boats and canoes. In 1855, Mary Meachum , a free Black woman, attempted to help eight or nine slaves escape from slavery on

5238-574: The book The Underground Railroad: Authentic Narratives and First-Hand Accounts (1872), a valuable resource for historians to understand how the system worked and learn about individual ingenuity in escapes. According to Still, messages were often encoded so that they could be understood only by those active in the railroad. For example, the following message, "I have sent via at two o'clock four large hams and two small hams", indicated that four adults and two children were sent by train from Harrisburg to Philadelphia. The additional word via indicated that

5335-629: The city's free Black community, and also hid on other steamboats leaving Alabama that were headed further northward into free territories and free states. In 1852, a law was passed by the Alabama legislature to reduce the number of freedom seekers escaping on boats. The law penalized slaveholders and captains of vessels if they allowed enslaved people on board without a pass. Alabama freedom seekers also made canoes to escape. Freedom seekers escaped from their enslavers in Panama on boats heading for California by way of

5432-490: The colloquial name for the asterism is Sao Bánh lái lớn (The Big Rudder Stars), contrasted with Ursa Minor , which is known as Sao Bánh lái nhỏ (The Little Rudder Stars). Although this name has now been replaced by the Sino-Vietnamese "Bắc Đẩu" in everyday speech, many coastal communities in central and southern Vietnam still refer to the asterism as such and use it to navigate when their fishing vessels return from

5529-453: The constellation include Perkūno Ratai ("The Wheels of Perkūnas "), Kaušas ("The Bucket"), Vežimas ("The Carriage"), and Samtis ("The Ladle"). In the Sámi languages of Northern Europe, the constellation is identified as the bow of the great hunter Fávdna (the star Arcturus ). In the main Sámi language, North Sámi it is called Fávdnadávgi ("Fávdna's bow") or simply dávggát ("the bow"). The constellation features prominently in

5626-584: The current northern pole star and the tip of the handle of the Little Dipper (Little Bear), can be located by extending an imaginary line through the front two stars of the asterism, Merak (β) and Dubhe (α). This makes it useful in celestial navigation . The constellation of Ursa Major ( Latin : Greater Bear) has been seen as a bear , a wagon , or a ladle . The "bear" tradition is Indo-European (appearing in Greek, as well as in Vedic India ), but apparently

5723-492: The date in fall, winter, or spring." The asterism name "Big Dipper" is mostly used in the United States and Canada . However, the origin of the term is disputed. A popular myth claimed the name originated from African-American folk songs ; however, a more recent source challenges the authenticity of the claim. In an 1824 book on the history of the constellations' mythology, Jacob Green  [ fr ] contrasted

5820-585: The earliest Indian astronomy , the Big Dipper was called "the Bear" (Ṛkṣa, ऋक्ष ) in the Rigveda , but was later more commonly known by the name of Saptarishi , "Seven Sages." In Inuit astronomy , the same grouping of stars is referred to as "the Caribou" ( Tukturjuit ). Many of the stars within the constellation "were used as hour hands on the night sky to indicate hours of the night, or as calendar stars to help determine

5917-411: The figure is known as Otava with established etymology in the archaic meaning 'salmon net', although other uses of the word refer to 'bear' and 'wheel'. The bear relation is claimed to stem from the animal's resemblance to—and mythical origin from—the asterism rather than vice versa. In Lithuanian , the stars of Ursa Major are known as Didieji Grįžulo Ratai ("The Big Back Wheels"). Other names for

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6014-440: The first European colony in the continental United States in South Carolina called San Miguel de Gualdape . The enslaved Africans revolted and historians suggest they escaped to Shakori Indigenous communities. As early as 1689, enslaved Africans fled from the South Carolina Lowcountry to Spanish Florida seeking freedom. The Seminole Nation accepted Gullah runaways (today called Black Seminoles ) into their lands. This

6111-405: The first-discovered telescopic binary (1617) and the first-discovered spectroscopic binary (1889). Five of the stars of the Big Dipper are at the core of the Ursa Major Moving Group . The two at the ends, Dubhe and Alkaid, are not part of the swarm, and are moving in the opposite direction. Relative to the central five, they are moving down and to the right in the map. This will slowly change

6208-435: The fugitive slave laws and regulations was a major justification offered for secession . Underground Railroad routes went north to free states and Canada, to the Caribbean, to United States western territories, and to Indian territories . Some fugitive slaves traveled south into Mexico for their freedom. Many escaped by sea, including Ona Judge , who had been enslaved by President George Washington . Some historians view

6305-428: The growth of anti-slavery societies and the Underground Railroad. With heavy lobbying by Southern politicians, the Compromise of 1850 was passed by Congress after the Mexican–American War . It included a more stringent Fugitive Slave Law ; ostensibly, the compromise addressed regional problems by compelling officials of free states to assist slave catchers, granting them immunity to operate in free states. Because

6402-513: The help came from Mexican laborers. So much so that enslavers came to distrust any Mexican, and a law was enacted in Texas that forbade Mexicans from talking to enslaved people. Mexican migrant workers developed relationships with enslaved black workers whom they worked with. They offered guidance, such as what it would be like to cross the border, and empathy. Having realized the ways in which Mexicans were helping enslaved people to escape, slaveholders and residents of Texan towns pushed people out of

6499-409: The help of Northerners to escape. The Underground Railroad benefited greatly from the geography of the U.S.–Canada border: Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and most of New York were separated from Canada by water, over which transport was usually easy to arrange and relatively safe. The main route for freedom seekers from the South led up the Appalachians, Harriet Tubman going via Harpers Ferry , through

6596-425: The highly anti-slavery Western Reserve region of northeastern Ohio to the vast shore of Lake Erie, and then to Canada by boat. A smaller number, traveling by way of New York or New England, went via Syracuse (home of Samuel May ) and Rochester, New York (home of Frederick Douglass ), crossing the Niagara River or Lake Ontario into Canada. By 1848 the Niagara Falls Suspension Bridge had been built—it crossed

6693-410: The international border with Mexico. Pressure between free and slave states deepened as Mexico abolished slavery and western states joined the Union as free states. As more free states were added to the Union, the lesser the influence of slave state representatives in Congress. The Southern Underground Railroad went through slave states, lacking the abolitionist societies and the organized system of

6790-639: The law required sparse documentation to claim a person was a fugitive, slave catchers also kidnapped free blacks , especially children, and sold them into slavery. Southern politicians often exaggerated the number of escaped slaves and often blamed these escapes on Northerners interfering with Southern property rights. The law deprived people suspected of being slaves of the right to defend themselves in court, making it difficult to prove free status. Some Northern states enacted personal liberty laws that made it illegal for public officials to capture or imprison former slaves. The perception that Northern states ignored

6887-529: The metaphor of the railway. For example: The Big Dipper (whose "bowl" points to the North Star ) was known as the drinkin' gourd . The Railroad was often known as the "freedom train" or "Gospel train", which headed towards "Heaven" or "the Promised Land", i.e., Canada. For the fugitive slaves who "rode" the Underground Railroad, many of them considered Canada their final destination. An estimated 30,000 to 40,000 of them settled in Canada, half of whom came between 1850 and 1860. Others settled in free states in

6984-526: The name "bear" has parallels in Siberian or North American traditions. The name "Bear" is Homeric , and apparently native to Greece, while the "Wain" tradition is Mesopotamian. Book XVIII of Homer's Iliad mentions it as "the Bear, which men also call the Wain". In Latin , these seven stars were known as the "Seven Oxen" ( septentriones , from septem triōnēs ). Classical Greek mythography identified

7081-715: The names of the Saptarshi . In addition, the asterism has also been used in corporate logos and the Alaska flag . The seven stars on a red background of the Flag of the Community of Madrid , Spain , are the stars of the Big Dipper Asterism. The same can be said about the seven stars pictured in the bordure azure of the Coat of arms of Madrid , capital city of Spain. The asterism's prominence on

7178-692: The north. Thousands of court cases for fugitive slaves were recorded between the Revolutionary War and the Civil War . Under the original Fugitive Slave Act of 1793 , officials from free states were required to assist slaveholders or their agents who recaptured fugitives, but some state legislatures prohibited this. The law made it easier for slaveholders and slave catchers to capture African Americans and return them to slavery, and in some cases allowed them to enslave free blacks. It also created an eagerness among abolitionists to help enslaved people, resulting in

7275-472: The north. People who spoke out against slavery were subject to mobs, physical assault, and being hanged. There were slave catchers who looked for runaway slaves. There were never more than a few hundred free blacks in Texas, which meant that free blacks did not feel safe in the state. The network to freedom was informal, random, and dangerous. U.S. military forts, established along the Rio Grande border during

7372-470: The risk of discovery, information about routes and safe havens was passed along by word of mouth, although in 1896 there is a reference to a numerical code used to encrypt messages. Southern newspapers of the day were often filled with pages of notices soliciting information about fugitive slaves and offering sizable rewards for their capture and return. Federal marshals and professional bounty hunters known as slave catchers pursued freedom seekers as far as

7469-484: The risk of infiltration, many people associated with the Underground Railroad knew only their part of the operation and not of the whole scheme. "Conductors" led or transported the "passengers" from station to station. A conductor sometimes pretended to be enslaved to enter a plantation . Once a part of a plantation, the conductor would direct the runaways to the North. Enslaved people traveled at night, about 10–20 miles (16–32 km) to each station. They rested, and then

7566-454: The sea at night. In Shinto religion, the seven largest stars of Ursa Major belong to Amenominakanushi , the oldest and most powerful of all kami . In Malay , it is known as the "Boat Constellation" ( Buruj Biduk ); in Indonesian , as the "Canoe Stars" ( Bintang Biduk ). In Burmese , these stars are known as Pucwan Tārā (ပုဇွန် တာရာ, pronounced "bazun taja"). Pucwan (ပုဇွန်)

7663-708: The shape of a dipper or a chariot. The Chinese astronomy records were translated to other East Asian cultures in the Sinosphere . The most prominent name is the "Northern Dipper" ( 北斗 ) and the "Seven Stars of the Northern Dipper" ( Chinese and Japanese : 北斗七星 ; pinyin : Běidǒu Qīxīng ; Cantonese Yale : Bak¹-dau² Cat¹-sing¹ ; rōmaji : Hokuto Shichisei ; Korean : 북두칠성 ; romaja : Bukdu Chilseong ; Vietnamese : Bắc Đẩu thất tinh ). In astrology , these stars are generally considered to compose

7760-501: The sky. According to the legend, Fávdna stands ready to fire his Bow every night but hesitates because he might hit Stella Polaris , known as Boahji ("the Rivet"), which would cause the sky to collapse and end the world. In Chinese astronomy and Chinese constellation records, The Big Dipper is called "Beidou" ( Chinese : 北斗 ; pinyin : Běi Dǒu ), which literally means Northern Dipper . It refers to an asterism equivalent to

7857-587: The slave trade. An earlier escape route running south toward Florida , then a Spanish possession (except 1763–1783), existed from the late 17th century until approximately 1790. During the American Civil War , freedom seekers escaped to Union lines in the South to obtain their freedom. One estimate suggests that, by 1850, approximately 100,000 slaves had escaped to freedom via the network. According to former professor of Pan-African studies, J. Blaine Hudson, who

7954-501: The southern border into Mexico and illegally capture black people and return them to slavery. A group of slave hunters became the Texas Rangers . Thousands of freedom seekers traveled along a network from the southern United States to Texas and ultimately Mexico. Southern enslaved people generally traveled across "unforgiving country" on foot or horseback while pursued by lawmen and slave hunters. Some stowed away on ferries bound for

8051-490: The still older Carlswæn . A folk etymology holds that this derived from Charlemagne , but the name is common to all the Germanic languages and the original reference was to the churls ' (i.e., the men's) wagon, in contrast to the women's wagon, (the Little Dipper ). An older " Odin 's Wain" may have preceded these Nordic designations. In German , it is known as the "Great Wagon" ( Großer Wagen ) and, less often,

8148-448: The stories of the Underground Railroad belong in folklore and not history. The actions of real historical figures such as Harriet Tubman, Thomas Garrett , and Levi Coffin are exaggerated, and Northern abolitionists who guided the enslaved to Canada are hailed as the heroes of the Underground Railroad. This narrative minimizes the intelligence and agency of enslaved Black people who liberated themselves, and implies that freedom seekers needed

8245-441: The strength of black resistance and initiative." From colonial America into the 19th century, Indigenous peoples of North America assisted and protected enslaved Africans journey to freedom. However, not all Indigenous communities were accepting of freedom seekers, some of whom they enslaved themselves or returned to their former enslavers. The earliest accounts of escape are from the 16th century. In 1526, Spaniards established

8342-808: The swamps and bayous of Saint Malo. The population of maroons was fifty and the Spanish colonial government broke up the community and on June 19, 1784, Jean Saint Malo was executed. Colonial South Carolina had a number of maroon settlements in its marshland regions in the Lowcountry and near rivers. Maroons in South Carolina fought to maintain their freedom and prevent enslavement in Ashepoo in 1816, Williamsburg County in 1819, Georgetown in 1820, Jacksonborough in 1822, and near Marion in 1861. Historian Herbert Aptheker found evidence that fifty maroon communities existed in

8439-482: The thoroughfare's name, the escape network was neither literally underground nor a railroad. (The first literal underground railroad did not exist until 1863 .) According to John Rankin , "It was so called because they who took passage on it disappeared from public view as really as if they had gone into the ground. After the fugitive slaves entered a depot on that road no trace of them could be found. They were secretly passed from one depot to another until they arrived at

8536-425: The town, whipped them in public, or lynched them. Some border officials helped enslaved people crossing into Mexico. In Monclova , Mexico a border official took up a collection in the town for a family in need of food, clothing, and money to continue on their journey south and out of reach of slave hunters. Once they crossed the border, some Mexican authorities helped former enslaved people from being returned to

8633-535: The warehouse where Lovejoy had his press, and gunfire was exchanged between them and his supporters. Lovejoy and his supporters killed one man in the mob, named Bishop, and wounded others. While they were trying to prevent the burning of the warehouse, Lovejoy and Royal Weller were shot; Lovejoy died immediately. The mob threw the press out the window and into the river. Publication of the Alton Observer ended after Lovejoy's murder, but his brother Owen Lovejoy became

8730-595: The waterways of the South as an important component for freedom seekers to escape as water sources were pathways to freedom. In addition, historians of the Underground Railroad found 200,000 runaway slave advertisements in North American newspapers from the middle of the 1700s until the end of the American Civil War. Freedom seekers in Alabama hid on steamboats heading to Mobile, Alabama in hopes of blending in among

8827-400: The way to Boston'". Dr. Robert Clemens Smedley wrote that following slave catchers' failed searches and lost traces of fugitives as far north as Columbia, Pennsylvania , they declared in bewilderment that "there must be an underground railroad somewhere," giving origin to the term. Scott Shane wrote that the first documented use of the term was in an article written by Thomas Smallwood in

8924-531: The work of free and enslaved African Americans, was assisted by abolitionists and others sympathetic to the cause of the escapees . The enslaved people who risked capture and those who aided them are also collectively referred to as the passengers and conductors of the Railroad, respectively. Various other routes led to Mexico, where slavery had been abolished, and to islands in the Caribbean that were not part of

9021-596: Was "contrary to the ethics of Jesus", Christian congregations and clergy played a role, especially the Religious Society of Friends ( Quakers ), Congregationalists , Wesleyan Methodists , and Reformed Presbyterians , as well as the anti-slavery branches of mainstream denominations which entered into schism over the issue, such as the Methodist Episcopal Church and the Baptists . The role of free blacks

9118-471: Was a southern route on the Underground Railroad into Seminole Indian lands that went from Georgia and the Carolinas into Florida. In Northwest Ohio in the 18th and 19th centuries, three Indigenous/Native American nations, the Shawnee , Ottawa, and Wyandot assisted freedom seekers escape from slavery. The Ottawa people accepted and protected runaways in their villages. Other escapees were taken to Fort Malden by

9215-493: Was crucial; without it, there would have been almost no chance for fugitives from slavery to reach freedom safely. The groups of underground railroad "agents" worked in organizations known as vigilance committees . Free Black communities in Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and New York helped freedom seekers escape from slavery. Black Churches were stations on the Underground Railroad, and Black communities in

9312-505: Was dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Louisville, by the end of the American Civil War 500,000 or more African Americans self-emancipated themselves from slavery on the Underground Railroad. Eric Foner wrote that the term "was perhaps first used by a Washington newspaper in 1839, quoting a young slave hoping to escape bondage via a railroad that 'went underground all

9409-556: Was part of Mexico. The Texas Revolution , initiated in part to legalize slavery, resulted in the formation of the Republic of Texas in 1836. Following the Battle of San Jacinto , there were some enslaved people who withdrew from the Houston area with the Mexican army, seeing the troops as a means to escape slavery. When Texas joined the Union in 1845, it was a slave state and the Rio Grande became

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