Just before Josiah Henson boarded the ship that would take him across the Niagara River to the shores of Canada, he vowed, “I’ll use my freedom well.” And he did. One day a man named James Lightfoot approached Josiah. Lightfoot had escaped slavery in Kentucky, but left behind his entire family. Would Henson rescue them? With that request, Josiah Henson became a conductor on the Underground Railroad, helping people the way others had once helped him.
Josiah Henson lived out the rest of his 93 years in Canada. In 1849, his story was published in The Life of Josiah Henson, Formerly a Slave. This inspiring memoir recounted one man’s struggle to shape his own destiny.
ESSENTIAL QUESTION
How has your daily life been influenced by the Underground Railroad?
Reconstruction: the period of time after the Civil War when the United States was reorganized and reunited.
Ku Klux Klan: a terrorist group formed after the Civil War that believed white Christians should hold the power in society.
white supremacy: the racist belief that white people are superior to those of all other races, especially the black race, and should therefore dominate society.
civil rights: the rights of citizens to have political, social, and economic equality.
The Underground Railroad helped fugitives such as Henson shed the bonds of slavery, and the Civil War abolished slavery forever. However, the freedom of African Americans was not yet complete because they were far from equal.
THE FAILURE OF RECONSTRUCTION
After the Civil War, during a period called Reconstruction, a new world opened up for former slaves. For the first time, they had the legal right to get paid for their work, to marry whomever they chose, to go to school, to cast their vote, and to run for office. In some communities, 90 percent of black citizens voted in the first decade after the war.
However, Southern whites fought hard to regain their old power. By 1877, the former class of wealthy white planters was back in control throughout the former Confederacy. Black codes were put into place to prevent African Americans from voting, serving on juries, testifying against whites, or owning guns and land. Schools and other public places were segregated.
Government of all the People
As the former Confederacy was integrated back into the United States, African American men entered politics. Two served in the U.S. Senate, 14 in the House of Representatives, six were elected as lieutenant governors, and more than 600 held seats in state legislatures.
Some former Confederate soldiers formed the Ku Klux Klan in 1865. The organization believed in white supremacy and enforced its beliefs through violence. White hoods and robes disguised the identity of the night-riders, Klansmen who committed violence against blacks. Since then, the Klan has ridden waves of popularity and decline. In the 1920s, 4 million Americans were members. The group grew again during the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s. Today, there are Ku Klux Klan groups in 41 states, although their membership is small.
Black neighborhoods were targeted by the Ku Klux Klan, a terrorist organization that still exists today.
Three Ku Klux Klan members parade through counties in northern Virginia bordering on the District of Columbia
The federal government was no help as African Americans saw their rights snatched away. Troops had been in place throughout the former Confederacy to enforce peace, but in 1877, President Rutherford Hayes withdrew these forces. The rights granted to blacks in the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments meant nothing when the government failed to enforce the law.
boycott: to stop buying a product or using a service as a way to protest something.
descendant: a person related to someone who lived in the past.
prostitution: to have sex in exchange for money.
human trafficker: a person who illegally buys and sells people for the purpose of forcing them to work or to sexually abuse them.
The failure of the government to protect African Americans meant a different sort of slavery. While a Southern white could no longer physically own a black person, he could pay him lower wages than a white and deny him the right to go to school with whites. Blacks could be prevented from voting, banned from owning land, and killed with little fear of punishment.
One hundred years after the Civil War, African Americans rose up and demanded their fair share of the American dream. They used a campaign of civil disobedience just as bold as the Underground Railroad. Leaders such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Daisy Bates, John Lewis, and Diane Nash organized boycotts and marches. Activists held sit-ins and filed lawsuits.
Some racist whites fought back with fire hoses, police dogs, bully clubs, and bullets, but slowly things changed. Schools opened their doors to black students. Employers began to hire black workers. States permitted blacks to vote.
A fairer freedom began to develop for the descendants of former slaves.
MODERN SLAVERY
Frederick Douglass predicted slavery would evolve. He said, “Slavery has been fruitful in giving herself names … and it will call itself by yet another name….” Douglass was right. Slavery still brutalizes people in the world today, even in the United States.
Amalia is a young Filipino woman. When she took a job as a housekeeper for a Taiwanese diplomat working in Missouri, she was told her salary would be $1,200 a month for a 40-hour work week. That was a lie.
Amalia’s employer took her travel documents and threatened to have her arrested if she disobeyed him. He demanded Amalia work 16 hours a day and only paid her $450 a month. Cameras recorded her every move. Amalia was forbidden to leave the house without supervision. This is what slavery looks like in the twenty-first century.
Sadly, 50 percent of today’s victims of slavery are children. Teen girls are sold into prostitution. Armies kidnap boys, forcing them into the military. Young children are slaves in brick, carpet, shoe, and shirt factories.
Slavery is illegal under international law, but human traffickers work under the radar of law enforcement.
Many groups exist to combat modern slavery. Organizations such as Free International, the Polaris Project, and Project to End Human Trafficking are staffed by modern abolitionists. These groups lobby for better laws and they operate hotlines to help victims.
A woman gave Amalia the number of a hotline run by an anti-slavery organization. Amalia was terrified to call, fearing she might be arrested. But alone and desperate, she finally called. The person who spoke to Amalia on the phone was a conductor of this modern Underground Railroad. This conductor calmed Amalia’s fears, found her shelter, and helped her press charges against her employer.
DID YOU KNOW?
Experts estimate that 20 to 30 million people around the world are victims of modern slavery, often called human trafficking.
The history of the Underground Railroad reveals the best and worst of America. Slavery was the single reason for this secret network. Slavery shaped American culture, and its ghost still lingers today in racist attitudes and actions. The Underground Railroad also spotlights Americans’ compassion and sacrifice. Agents of the railroad risked everything to come to the aid of African Americans.
The Underground Railroad began with the actions of a few individuals at the turn of the nineteenth century. Within 50 years, it had transformed into a movement that drew people from all walks of life united by a common goal—to liberate enslaved people. These agents demonstrated that people can work together when they believe in a cause. In this aspect, the Underground Railroad was the United States’ first civil rights movement.
The Underground Railroad gave women experience at organizing and leading. They learned how to raise funds, organize events, write persuasively, and speak to large groups. Women needed this training because they had a fight of their own to wage. While not enslaved, prior to the twentieth century, women could not vote. They also could not hold office, serve on juries, enter certain professions, or control their own property.
End Slavery Now
Go to this link to examine modern slavery. What type of jobs are people trapped into? How many people are affected? Click “Photo Galleries” on the sidebar menu. What do the photographs of modern slavery reveal about how slavery has both changed and remained the same throughout history?
slavery today 
In 1848, five white women took the skills they had developed in the abolitionist movement and started a revolution. Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Coffin Mott, Martha Coffin Wright, Mary Ann M’Clintock, and Jane Hunt organized the first women’s rights convention in Seneca Falls, New York. Delegates to the convention drafted the Declaration of Sentiments, which declared “All men and women were created equal.” Their work with the Underground Railroad had awakened in women a desire for their own liberty.
TOWARD RACIAL UNDERSTANDING
Now you know the real history of the Underground Railroad. Midnight rides, secret hiding places, daring escapes—there is drama in this chapter of American history. Enslaved people are the heroes of this tale. Their courage, their determination, and their sacrifice in the pursuit of freedom was the engine of the railroad. Free blacks and abolitionist whites willing to defy the law were the train’s wheels moving slaves toward freedom.
The Underground Railroad demonstrated three important lessons: People can free themselves from bondage, the actions of a single person can make a difference in the lives of others, and an evil system can be overturned.
What would the world look like if everyone learned these lessons?
The Underground Railroad was a secret in the nineteenth century. It’s not a secret anymore. It’s a history of personal courage and moral resistance—not black history or white history. The Underground Railroad is American history. Go spread the word.
ESSENTIAL QUESTION
Now it’s time to consider and discuss the Essential Question: How has your daily life been influenced by the Underground Railroad?
FREEDOM CHAIN
What does the word “freedom” mean to you? Does it mean playing video games for as long as you want? Hanging out with friends whenever you want? The right to vote? The right to free speech and to debate with your teachers? People from different cultural backgrounds define freedom in different ways.
Think about the freedoms you enjoy, freedoms that many people in the world may not have. Ask some friends to make their list of freedoms. Together, make a freedom chain to celebrate these liberties.
Enslaved people were shackled with iron chains. What material can you use for a chain to represent freedom instead of oppression? Slave shackles were circular links. What shape will your chain be to demonstrate the liberties you cherish? Slave chains were dark colors like the skin tone that condemned generations of people to bondage. What colors will your chain be and what do these colors represent to you?
The Gateway to Freedom sculpture in Detroit is a memorial to the Underground Railroad. The statues of nine fugitives and a conductor stand on the banks of the Detroit River, looking toward Canada.
A memorial is a form of art designed to remember a person or event. Memorials can be a statue or plaque, a musical concert, even a tree planted in someone’s memory. A memorial cannot tell everything about a person or event. Instead, the designer focuses on an important feature or idea to showcase.
In this activity, you will design a memorial to something or someone that you want to remember. The topic of your memorial could be a person or pet that is no longer in your life, it could be a historical person whom you believe is important or a historical event you think should be remembered. In words and images, answer the following questions about the subject of your memorial to help get your creativity flowing.
*What is the name of your subject?
*Why is the subject important to you?
*What activities and setting would the subject be involved in?
*What does this subject look like?
*What would you say to this subject if you could?
*What would you like other people to know about this subject?
Choose the materials and method to make your memorial. You can write a song, sculpt a statue, paint a picture, or something else!
Create a draft of your memorial design on paper. Revise and improve this and then make a final version of your memorial.
EXPLORE MORE: Put your memorial where other people can view it. Develop a way to get viewer feedback. What kinds of emotions does your memorial fuel in your audience? After they are done viewing it, what do they understand about the subject you have memorialized? Have you achieved your purpose?
Ku Klux Klan