Harriet Tubman And The Underground Railroad

2705 Words11 Pages
Idealized as the salvation for the slaves, the Underground Railroad was a pathway to freedom for countless African-Americans and sometimes their families. The development of the Railroad assisted in the safe passage of runaways from Southern slavery to freedom, often times so called in the North. The Railroad has been characterized as the path that slaves took to a life of freedom; heroes and heroines, those who assisted in these escapes, were forged in bravery, sympathies for the plight of the slaves were stirred, and it ultimately paved the arduous road towards a better life and future equality. Despite its many benefits, it brought many hardships such as the following: the drafting of the Fugitive Slave Act, the increase of slave-hunters and their nefarious activities, mistaking free blacks for slaves in the North (these were too often returned to the South even though not slaves at all), and the lack of equality for those who made their way to ‘freedom’ in the North. Despite these negative effects and events, the Underground Railroad ultimately proved to be more to be more helpful than harmful. In order to understand the Railroad’s significance, we must first consider what it…show more content…
Dubbed “Moses” Harriet Tubman, a former slave herself, over an extended period of time escorted approximately 300 slaves into the “Promised Land” of freedom. During a ten-year span she made 19 trips into the South and escorted over 300 slaves to freedom. And, as she once proudly pointed out to Frederick Douglass, in all of her journeys she "never lost a single passenger." Her drive was developed at a young age. Growing up as a slave and exposed to that harsh treatment, Harriett determined to gain her freedom and that of her family. This intense desire gave birth to the idea of the Underground Railroad. (Africans in America,
Open Document