The Underground Railroad was an informal network of secret routes and safe houses, used in the 19th century by black slaves in the United States to escape to either Free states or Canada. The Underground Railroad was not literally underground and it wasn’t a railroad either, “underground” meant secret, and “railroad” was the hidden terminology. Escaped slaves would move along the route from one “station” to the next, “stations” was coded meaning resting spots where they would sleep and eat during the day to avoid being captured by slave hunters. Many people associated with the Underground Railroad only knew their small part of the operation and not the whole scheme.
Hundreds of slaves obtained freedom to the North every year. The “conductors” who ultimately moved the runaways from station to station, would sometimes act as if they were actually a slave and enter a plantation, then they would direct the fugitives to the North. The slaves would travel about 10–20 miles (15–30 km) per night sometimes by boat, train, or wagon, yet mostly on foot. When they would stop at the so-called “stations” or “depots”, a message was sent to the next station to let the station master know the runaways were on their way. Money was donated by many people to help buy tickets and even clothing for the fugitives so they would remain unnoticeable. Many fugitive bondsmen escaped via the Railroad and established livelihoods as free men, then they would later purchased their wives, children, and other family members out of slavery.
People who helped slaves find the railroad were referred to as “agents” or “shepherds “, abolitionists were the ones who would “fix the tracks”, “Stationmasters” hid slaves in their homes, Escaped slaves were referred to as “passengers” or “cargo”, the Railroad itself was often known as the “freedom train” or “Gospel train”, which headed towards “Heaven” or “the Promised Land”—Canada.
