Underground Railroad: Slaves Escape To Freedom

Lamb 1
Sarah Lamb
Shawn Gladden
History 111
November 21, 2015
Underground Railroad
The underground railroads helped many slaves escape to freedom. Some people believe that the underground railroads did not involve many people. Some also believe and also question whether the underground railroads ever happened. There has been knowledge about the underground railroads that has changed from then to now based on new information that has come out recently. Information and articles written about important leaders from the underground railroads help prove that it was more complex than some people were taught. Some leaders from the Underground Railroad that helped prove it was real and that many people were involved were Harriet Tubman, …show more content…
In Larry Gara’s article titled “William Still And The Underground Railroad” it states that “He took a special interest in societies efforts to assist slaves who has run away from the south. They were often boarded at his home before resuming their journey towards Canada. For fourteen years Still served the society” (Gara, 34). This shows how dedicated Still was in helping the slaves. In 1838 a Vigilance committee was organized in Philadelphia that was made to help assist slaves that came into the city. In the early 1850’s the Vigilance committee got many complaints and people felt that the committee was disorganized. “The group decided to organize a new vigilance committee of four members which should have the authority to attend to every case that might require their aid, to raise necessary funds, and to keep a record of their doings, and especially of their receipts and expenditures. They appointed William Still chairman of the active committee” (Gara, 34). Appointing Still as a chairman of this important committee shows that the people trusted him and knew he could make a difference. The committee spent small amounts of money at a time but helped purchase medicine and clothing for the fugitives. “One of William Stills duties was to ask the newly arrived slaves their names, the names of their masters and where they had come from, and to question them about their escape experiences and the severity of …show more content…
Quakers were a Christian religious group that focused on peace. They were against war and also most were opposed to slavery. They were sympathetic to social issues. In Larry Gara’s article titled “Friends and The Underground Railroad” he writes about different situations where some of the Quakers went above and beyond to help slaves and be there for them. “The association of Quakers with the underground railroad is a well-known ingredient of traditional Americana. A historian of Stark County, Ohio, pointed out that runaway slaves in that area soon learned that the Quakers were not only willing to assist them in escaping but often went to considerable trouble an expense to accomplish this result” (Gara, 4). The Quakers were about friendship and peace and they could see at the time how wrong slavery was and wanted to help the people that were in these terrible situations escape to Northern states where they could become free. “ Most nineteenth century Americans assumed that Negros were intellectually inferior to white people, and many expressed the belief that it would be both unwise and unfair to emancipate slaves without providing for their removal from the country…Its program took the popular idea of negro inferiority into consideration and more than a few Quakers gave it their support” (Gara, 5). This shows that some Quakers still truly felt that black people were inferior to them. Even though some Quakers