Horrors of Slavery

One of the ways some of the slaves received their freedom was through the American Revolution. They were rewarded freedom through their services in the war. Others tried to get their freedom by escaping away from the plantations. They had secret ways to escape. Many white folks secretly helped the slaves escape from their plantations. One of the famous ways the slaves tried to escape to freedom was through the Underground Railroad.

The Underground Railroad was a network in which antislavery Northerners illegally helped fugitive slaves escape from the plantation owners. These Northerners would transport them to free states or Canada where there were antislavery laws before the Civil War. Their escape had to be during the night, so that they may not be seen, and they also looked for the North Star for guidance. About 50,000 slaves escaped through the Underground Railroad, but there is no exact number of how many slaves escaped because there were no records kept. Harriet Tubman was a woman who really contributed to the Underground Railroad.