The Underground Railroad was not underground, and it wasn’t an actual train. How the Underground Railroad startedĪmericans had been helping enslaved people escape since the late 1700s, and by the early 1800s, the secret group of individuals and places that many fugitives relied on became known as the Underground Railroad. It became known as the Underground Railroad. As more and more people secretly offered to help, a freedom movement emerged. Not everyone believed that slavery should be allowed and wanted to aid these fugitives, or runaways, in their escape to freedom. To be captured would mean being sent back to the plantation, where they would be whipped, beaten, or killed. Leaving behind family members, they traveled hundreds of miles across unknown lands and rivers by foot, boat, or wagon. Many fled by themselves or in small numbers, often without food, clothes, or money. It required courage, wit, and determination. According to the law, they had no rights and were not free.Įscaping to freedom was anything but easy for an enslaved person. They had been kidnapped from their homes and were forced to work on tobacco, rice, and indigo plantations from Maryland and Virginia all the way to Georgia. In 1619, the first enslaved Africans arrived in Virginia, one of the newly formed 13 American Colonies.
