Underground Railroad Themes

Decent Essays
The Underground Railroad documentary, directed by Jeff Lengyel for the History Channel, uncovered many factoids about an important period of United States history from the 17th Century thru to the Emancipation Proclamation which has been misinterpreted for decades. This misinterpretation has been fostered by history text books, teachers, lecturers and the modern day cinema. It is ironic that the same medium used to produce these misconceptions will be same medium by which to correct them. This 1997 TV movie hosted brilliantly by Alfre Woodard dispels and enlightens the viewer’s with four key themes concerning the Underground Railroad: What was the Underground Railroad, its purpose and how it functioned; The Black and Indian alliance

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Unlike the author of “Frederick Douglass”, the author of “The Underground Railroad” stuck to historical facts that helped to inform the reader of this secret network that revolutionized slavery. The author of the latter writes “The Underground Railroad was formed in the early nineteenth century.” Although this quote may seem insignificant to the author’s purpose, it actually shows us what the author intended with this text. With facts…

    • 936 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Why is it important to document hidden histories? Before viewing Slavery by Another Name (2012), I was not fully aware of the atrocities committed against African Americans after slavery had been abolished. I knew that newly freed slaves had a hard time adjusting to freedom, but I never fathomed the oppression and torment they were subjected to as free Americans. My history classes throughout my education never included information regarding involuntary servitude and laws that were created to deliberately re-enslave African Americans and prevent them from having mobility.…

    • 797 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the book, The Education of Blacks in the South, 1860-1935, James Anderson was published in 1988. It address the historical narrative of the education of African Americans in the Southern states of America. It paints the portrait of the persistent oral culture of African Americans. As a historian, he creatively paints the picture of the culture of African American during the Civil War until the Great Depression. After the Civil War, and the emancipation of slaves, the newly freed men and women had a growing desire for education in order to self-sustain and challenge white supremacy.…

    • 479 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the United States, there is a common assumption that the Civil War marked the end of the slavery era. However, Douglas Blackmon’s book Slavery by Another Name dispels this supposition. It uncovers chilling evidence that slavery went into the 1900s. Blackmon explains that the form of slavery that was prevalent in the early 1900s is synonymous with that of the earlier years. In this regard, the book distances itself from discussions regarding institutionalized racism; it tackles the grim nature of human bondage, forced labor, cruelty, and poor living circumstances that persisted legally to the mid-twentieth century.…

    • 945 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the book “Midnight Rising: John Brown and the Raid That Sparked the Civil War” written by Tony Horwitz who is one of New York Times bestsellers. Horwitz began his profession as a newspaper reporter and issued many stories that dealt with conflict and working circumstances in America for The Wall Street Journal. Yet, throughout the book the author writes about an abolitionist named John Brown who has greatly impacted the start of the Civil War through a diversity of raids. Horwitz’s thesis is that Brown had ignited the nation’s extensive rivalry specifically with the implausible attack on Harpers Ferry.…

    • 844 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Redemption, The Last Battle of the Civil War Slavery, suffering, suffocation… three words that will surely make emotions rise. It is with these words that I will begin to describe the eloquent writings of this book. Throughout the span of the book, there are two themes presented: the amount of devastation survived by the Negroes and the long sought after balance of politics between Negroes and Whites. It is upon this foundation that the author, Nicholas Lemann had such courage and intelligence to write of such great happenings that caused our mother country to become of what it is today.…

    • 1010 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Although many of these subjects expanded on previously known ideas, there was a lot I never knew. Besides interesting yet less impactful things like the escape of Henry “Box” Brown, I learned more about the hidden history of the Underground Railroad and the events and people that helped to aid the plight of the American…

    • 928 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Midnight Rising Analysis

    • 733 Words
    • 3 Pages

    His burning hatred of racial oppression leads him to conduct a raid into Harpers Ferry and liberate the slaves. Brown’s bloody uprising ruptured the union between North and South, but his bravery made him a hero. Attracting the attention of Abraham Lincoln, Brown’s dream was fulfilled in the Emancipation Proclamation. Readers will remember this topic as it paints the portrait of a pivotal figure. This book will impact the United States by recounting the life of history’s most complicated and vexed character.…

    • 733 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Upon reading this novel The Underground Railroad, it is clear that there is a central theme of justice. Despite justice being a very loosely defined term, a sense of right and wrong is a common element in the plot of this story. Justice, though the idea is clear to a person when they hear it, that person’s idea of it is always different from another. This is a fact that hints at the idea that justice could come in more than one form. Though commonly righteous, to some rightful justice would be revenge.…

    • 1657 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    During the early stages of the railroad, it was very secretive, and only the people involved were aware of what was happening. The first movements towards starting the Underground Railroad were by the Quaker’s, but they involved much of the surrounding population, including freed black men and women. At this moment, the Abolitionist movement slowly started to arise. As the group began to grow and advance, slaves became more aware of the railroad, but still, the voyage was kept very…

    • 1414 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the literary work, Slavery by Another Name: The Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II, by Douglas A. Blackmon, a critical piece of untold history regarding the issue of slavery is explored in a captivating and compelling argument stating slavery had not truly been abolished until forty-five years after the emancipation proclamation. To any human who has completed grade school through high school this claim might come to shock you, as we are told that Lincoln had freed the slaves through the emancipation proclamation in 1863. This story explores the question up for popular debate concerning the role of black men in society. The author does an excellent job of explaining to the readers that despite the great strides that were made after the civil war; slavery would continue to be a battle many would fight for a much longer period of time…

    • 990 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In Eric Foner’s novel Gateway to Freedom: The Hidden History of the Underground Railroad. The author, Eric Foner is a historian and has won the Pulitzer Prize, given each year some categories include literature and journalism and continues to influence our comprehension of American history. The author expresses that an individual cannot comprehend the origins of the American Civil War without keeping in mind the opposition and activism of wanted slaves and abolitionists. The novel displays the tragic story of wanted slaves and abolitionists who disregarded the law to support African Americans reach for freedom. New York was the biggest unchained African American community causing an attraction of many slaves who want freedom.…

    • 717 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    The Underground Railroad is thought to of begun around the late 18th century. The Underground Railroad was actually not underground nor was it a railroad. It was a vast network of people helping convict slaves escape to the “promise land,” or Canada. Consisting of many individuals, some whites but predominately black, aided these slaves through the networks (history.com). George Washington, a slave owner, complained that one of his runaway slaves was helped by a “society of Quakers, formed for such purposes.”…

    • 1453 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    During the time of the slave trade, the process of helping and freeing slaves was a dangerous and brave act. The Underground Railroad was run by thousands of people that thought all people were created equal. The railroad was created in 1810 and helped move thousands of African Americans from the South to the free north of the U.S and Canada.…

    • 516 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Underground Railroad was a network of secret routes and safe houses established in the United States during the early-to-mid 19th century. It was used by African American slaves to escape into free states and Canada with the aid of abolitionists. Allies who were sympathetic to their cause. The Underground Railroad was invented in the late 1700s. It reached its height between 1850 and 1860.…

    • 410 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays