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History of Slavery. First African slave came from when a Dutch slave trader exchanged his cargo of slaves for food in 1619.Slaves were used extensively in the South with tasks such as farming of cotton, indigo, and housework.Civil War began when the Confederate opened fired at Fort Sumter in Charl
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1. Constellations And The Underground Railroad By: Whitnee Thorp
And
Jasmine Gray
2. History of Slavery First African slave came from when a Dutch slave trader exchanged his cargo of slaves for food in 1619.
Slaves were used extensively in the South with tasks such as farming of cotton, indigo, and housework.
Civil War began when the Confederate opened fired at Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina on April 12, 1861.
Slavery ended in 1865- and even though it did, it did not stop the prejudice that remained not only in the South but the nation as well.
3. Underground Railroad Charles Blockson defined the underground railroad as, “a network of paths through the woods and fields, river crossings, boats and ships, trains and wagons, all haunted by the specter of recapture.” in the National Geographic.
Runaways were either alone or in small groups and were hidden in forests and shuffled from abolitionists’ houses from the South to the North.
Abolitionists were those who advocated the abolition of slavery.
4. Harriet Tubman A Maryland slave, Harriet Tubman, escaped to the North to her freedom at the age of 29. She than became known as the “conductor” for the underground railroad that started in 1838. During this time she was referred to as Moses (for setting her people free). She made a total of 19 trips to the south and rescued a little over 300 slaves.
5. “Follow the Drinking Gourd” Slaves used the North Star to decide which way was north by simply “walking towards it”.
As soon as slave children could understand they were taught to locate the north star by using the “drinking gourd”
They referred to the “dipper” as the “drinking gourd” because they used drinking gourds instead of fancy metal dippers to retrieve water.
The “drinking gourd” in the night sky became a symbol of freedom for all slaves.
They passed on information to different plantations by the use of songs or hymns.
Slaves used songs as codes to pass secret information so their white owners would understand nothing.
“Follow the Drinking Gourd” is an example used by slaves to code their path to freedom when they would runaway from slavery.
6. Hymns Lyrics!
Follow the Drinking Gourd
Follow the drinking gourd! Follow the drinking gourd. For the old man is awaiting for to carry you to freedom If you follow the drinking gourd.
When the sun comes back and the first quail calls, Follow the drinking gourd, For the old man is awaiting for to carry you to freedom If you follow the drinking gourd.
The riverbank makes a very good road, The dead trees will show you the way, Left foot, peg foot traveling on, Following the drinking gourd. The river ends between two hills, Follow the drinking gourd, There's another river on the other side, Follow the drinking gourd.
Where the great big river meets the little river, Follow the drinking gourd, The old man is awaiting for to carry you to freedom If you follow the drinking gourd The Meaning
"When the sun comes back" means winter and spring when the altitude of the sun at noon is higher each day. Quail are migratory bird wintering in the South. The Drinking Gourd is the Big Dipper. The old man is Peg Leg Joe. The verse tells slaves to leave in the winter and walk towards the Drinking Gourd. Eventually they will meet a guide who will escort them for the remainder of the trip. Most escapees had to cross the Ohio River which is too wide and too swift to swim. The Railroad struggled with the problem of how to get escapees across, and with experience, came to believe the best crossing time was winter. Then the river was frozen, and escapees could walk across on the ice. Since it took most escapees a year to travel from the South to the Ohio, the Railroad urged slaves to start their trip in winter in order to be at the Ohio the next winter.
From http://www2.lhric.org/pocantico/tubman/gourd.htm
7. The Dippers The North Star which helped guide the slaves to the north is also known as Polaris.
The Big Dipper is apart of Ursa Major
The Little Dipper is apart of Ursa Minor
Polaris is located in the Little Dipper and is the tip of the “handle”
Polaris is actually a very faint star compared to many other stars.
8. Sources http://innercity.org/holt/chron_1830_end.html
http://education.ucdavis.edu/NEW/STC/lesson/socstud/railroad/Whatis.htm
http://starryskies.com/articles/dln/11-00/dippers.html
