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Stealing Freedom

Stealing Freedom. By Elisa Carbone. Historical Background- Slavery. 1619- 1 st Africans arrive in Jamestown, Virginia. Some are indentured servants and some are slaves. Indentured servants can buy their freedom after specified period of time.

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Stealing Freedom

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  1. Stealing Freedom By Elisa Carbone

  2. Historical Background- Slavery • 1619- 1st Africans arrive in Jamestown, Virginia. Some are indentured servants and some are slaves. • Indentured servants can buy their freedom after specified period of time. • Slaves can never buy their freedom. Owners “property” • 1714- South Carolina orders death penalty for runaway slaves.

  3. Slavery and Underground Railroad • 1793- Fugitive Slave Law passed- slave owners may seize fugitives in any state. • 1808- Abolishes trade in slaves from Africa. • 1850- Second Fugitive Slave Law passed. • Illegal to help an escaped slave and fugitives may be returned from state to state. • Harriet Tubman begins her work with the Underground Railroad.

  4. Underground Railroad • What is it? • Secret network of safe houses, which provided cover to runaway slaves as they traveled northward. • Was not underground nor a railroad. It is a coded language. • Fugitives traveled by foot, horseback, horse-drawn cart, train, and boat. • VERY dangerous for both the “workers” and the runaways.

  5. Typical Underground Railroad Workers? • Blacks • Whites • Southerners • Northerners • Farmers • City dwellers • Men • Women • Children • Former slaves Harriet Tubman with escaped slaves at an Underground Rail Road station.

  6. Harriet Tubman • Born into slavery in Maryland • Escaped to Philadelphia on the Underground Railroad • Devoted freedom to helping other slaves escape • Estimated that she assisted around 300 slaves in nearly 20 trips

  7. Why run? • Slaves ran when they learned they’d be sold to the deep South. • Mississippi and Alabama had reputations as being specifically difficult to survive • Ran after violent beatings • If s/he had been cheated

  8. The Trip North • Anywhere from a few days to a year-depending on where you started, mode of transportation, and luck • Only ate what you could forage- nuts, berries, fish, and wild rabbits • Hide in forests, swamps, and caves • If you hooked up with the Underground Railroad you could receive food, money, clothes and most importantly shelter.

  9. Safe House • Could be identified by numerous signs: • Quilts hanging on clotheslines • Lamps burning in windows • Rows of white bricks built into chimneys

  10. Secrecy = Necessary • Railroad workers risked • Community ridicule • Loss of business • Personal safety • Owners ran ads describing runaways and offering rewards • Some people made a living tracking down runaway slaves

  11. Escaped Slave Ads • http://civics.sites.unc.edu/files/2012/04/SlaveRunaways.pdf • What skills did the person possess? • How did slave owners treat the person? • How did the person escape? • Why did the person choose to run away? • Did the person resist in additional ways beyond escaping?

  12. Special Coded Language • Underground Railroad developed special coded language for communication purposes. Travelers – “packages” Places where people stayed – “stations” People who helped travelers find the next station – “conductors” Hosted the runaways – “station masters”

  13. Underground Railroad • Estimated number of how many slaves escaped- 40,000 to 100,000 • Thought that more men escaped because women were reluctant to leave their children • Shut down after Civil War

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