The Underground Railroad depended on secrecy and members kept no written records. And it's difficult to even assess who exactly was a member of the organization.There were men like Levi Coffin, a Quaker who ran an Underground Railroad network in Ohio and Indiana, who were intimately involved in efforts to move fugitive slaves northward. But there were also hundreds or even thousands who participated from time to time, or even offered help spontaneously.
Others, like the courageous former slave Harriet Tubman, used skill and deception to venture southward and lead others to freedom.
In recent years many myths about the Underground Railroad have circulated, and many of them are difficult to judge. After the Civil War, some members wrote memoirs, and their recollections form a solid basis of knowledge. And what we know for sure about the Underground Railroad is an amazing story of human ingenuity and bravery in the face of injustice.
Full article: The Underground Railroad
Illustration: Levi Coffin, an organizer of the Underground Railroad/Library of Congress
Related:
- Harriet Tubman
- Frederick Douglass
- John Brown
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