0:00 [SPEAKER_00]: Before we begin, a quick disclaimer. 0:04 [SPEAKER_00]: This episode discusses historical events involving people who were enslaved and contains terms that reflect the period's language, including the names of institutions. 0:18 [SPEAKER_00]: These terms are not used arbitrarily, but are presented for historical accuracy and context. 0:28 [SPEAKER_00]: a time when freedom was a distant dream. 0:32 [SPEAKER_00]: When heavy chains clinked louder than prayers, and people labored under the scorching sun, yearning for our glimpse of light in their fate. 0:44 [SPEAKER_00]: With the light seemed unreachable, and dreaming of it was almost insolent and unalable. 0:53 [SPEAKER_00]: And in midst of this desolation, 0:58 [SPEAKER_00]: A lifeline born out of necessity and desperation. 1:09 [SPEAKER_00]: Welcome back friend to hometown history. 1:13 [SPEAKER_00]: Today's episode is about a network that became an essential part of the survival of the people who wanted to escape their circumstances and make a world of their own. 1:30 [SPEAKER_00]: from its beginning in 1776 until the year 1865. 1:36 [SPEAKER_00]: The practice of chattel slavery, which is the legal ownership of slaves, was rampant in the United States. 1:44 [SPEAKER_00]: But it began way before that. 1:46 [SPEAKER_00]: The system began during the early years of European colonization, the Americas, 1:53 [SPEAKER_00]: dating back to 1526, and this ownership law was a thing in Britain's colonies, including the 13 colonies that later formed the United States. 2:06 [SPEAKER_00]: In according to that law, an enslaved person was considered property that could be bought, sold, or given away. 2:16 [SPEAKER_00]: But after the American Revolution, there was some improvement in the 2:23 [SPEAKER_00]: the United States faced a split over the issue of slavery, with the North seeing immigrant workers replace slaves, leading to the abolitionist movement. 2:34 [SPEAKER_00]: And slowly state by state, slavery was being at lawed, and soon every state north of Maryland had done so. 2:44 [SPEAKER_00]: But the South was deeply resistant to this. 2:47 [SPEAKER_00]: After all, their plantations were highly profitable, and the wealthy owners were not ready to sacrifice that. 2:56 [SPEAKER_00]: So as the call for nationwide abolition group, many people but it heads on the issue. 3:03 [SPEAKER_00]: The southerners feared that freeing slaves might give them a chance to retaliate against the whites. 3:09 [SPEAKER_00]: For their treatment of them, 3:11 [SPEAKER_00]: Thomas Jefferson, who once supported abolition, explained the situation by saying it was like having a wolf by the ears. 3:22 [SPEAKER_00]: Letting go would mean your own demise. 3:26 [SPEAKER_00]: Meanwhile, in the north, things improved. 3:30 [SPEAKER_00]: But not by much, mind you. 3:32 [SPEAKER_00]: And in the south, slaves continue to work as if nothing had changed. 3:38 [SPEAKER_00]: Enduring physical abuse and living in the worst conditions. 3:43 [SPEAKER_00]: Dreaming of escape felt like a faraway hope, because of the dangers that looked everywhere, 3:50 [SPEAKER_00]: Even learning or education was forbidden. 3:54 [SPEAKER_00]: So even if you could dream it, there was almost no way to achieve it. 4:00 [SPEAKER_00]: Add into the troubles the fugitive slave acts of 1793 and 1850 tightened the reins, allowing slave owners to track down escapees, even in free states. 4:17 [SPEAKER_00]: This constant risk of being caught, made it all the more difficult to attempt to escape. 4:24 [SPEAKER_00]: And it was in this atmosphere of paralyzing fear and life-threatening danger that the underground railroad found its space. 4:36 [SPEAKER_00]: The underground railroad was like a secret maze of paths and safe houses. 4:42 [SPEAKER_00]: And it was meant to provide a safe passage 4:47 [SPEAKER_00]: After they managed their escape, they would get help from the whites who believed in their freedom to send them to Canada. 4:56 [SPEAKER_00]: The folks who built this network, the enslaved people who risked their lives to escape through them, and the whites who helped them escape were all called the passengers and conductors of the Underground Railroad. 5:10 [SPEAKER_00]: Some routes led to Mexico, where slavery was already abolished, 5:16 [SPEAKER_00]: or to the Caribbean Islands, which were not involved in the slave trade. 5:21 [SPEAKER_00]: There was even an earlier route that went south toward Florida when it was under Spanish rule. 5:29 [SPEAKER_00]: The aim was just to help these escapees reach a place where they would not have to live in fear of slave catchers. 5:37 [SPEAKER_00]: It's important to note that the Underground Railroad wasn't actually a railroad. 5:46 [SPEAKER_00]: According to Eric Foner, it was first mentioned by that name in a Washington newspaper in 1839. 5:54 [SPEAKER_00]: They quoted a young slave who hoped to escape using a railroad that as the story went, went underground all the way to Boston. 6:05 [SPEAKER_00]: So when the slave catchers lost track of fugitives, as far north as Colombia, Pennsylvania, they just declared and confusion, there must be an underground railroad somewhere. 6:18 [SPEAKER_00]: And with that, it seems like the name stuck, because it captured the mysterious and hidden nature of this network. 6:28 [SPEAKER_00]: And since the name stuck, the underground railroad ended up borrowing rail terminology. 6:34 [SPEAKER_00]: so the people helping were agents, the guides were conductors, and hiding places became stations. 6:44 [SPEAKER_00]: And if you were the one providing shelter, you were called a station master. 6:50 [SPEAKER_00]: Similarly, escaping slaves were termed passengers or cargo, and they obtained a ticket. 6:58 [SPEAKER_00]: Those who financed the escape were called stockholders, 7:04 [SPEAKER_00]: The Big Dipper, pointing to the North Star, was the drinking gourd. 7:10 [SPEAKER_00]: In the underground railroad itself, was often called the Freedom Train, or Gospel Train. 7:17 [SPEAKER_00]: The whole thing operated mainly through meeting points, secret routes and safe houses, all organized by abolitionist sympathizers, 7:28 [SPEAKER_00]: participants called conductors, also came from diverse backgrounds, including free-born blacks, white abolitionists, and even Native Americans. 7:41 [SPEAKER_00]: The routes varied based on geography. 7:45 [SPEAKER_00]: The US Canadian border with Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and most of New York separated from 7:57 [SPEAKER_00]: So the Freedom Seekers traveled through the Appalachians, the Western Reserve region, and Lake Erie, to reach Canada. 8:07 [SPEAKER_00]: Some other routes light through New York or New England, crossing into Canada through Niagara River, or Lake Ontario. 8:16 [SPEAKER_00]: and just like the routes, traveling conditions changed. 8:21 [SPEAKER_00]: Freedom seekers sometimes use boats, or actual above-ground trains, but mostly they walked, or road wagons. 8:32 [SPEAKER_00]: Often lying down and covering themselves up with hay. 8:36 [SPEAKER_00]: routes were purposely indirect and often changed. 8:40 [SPEAKER_00]: To confuse the people chasing, the escaped slaves. 8:45 [SPEAKER_00]: Of course, escape was harder for women with young children, but some were able to escape and eventually led rescue missions themselves, becoming key figures and this covert network. 8:59 [SPEAKER_00]: And among them was a woman you might already be familiar with. 9:05 [SPEAKER_00]: Born as era mentor Ross, Tubman had seen life as a slave from the very beginning, and endured beatings and whippings as a child. 9:17 [SPEAKER_00]: A traumatic head injury during her youth led to persistent health issues, including dizziness, pain, and hypersomnia, which caused extreme daytime sleepiness. 9:31 [SPEAKER_00]: In 1849, her life took a turn for the worse when she fell sick, which effectively lowered her worth to slave traders. 9:41 [SPEAKER_00]: Her owner, Edward Brodus, tried to sell her, but finding no buyer, Tubman began to pray for a change in his heart. 9:52 [SPEAKER_00]: Night after night, she pleaded with God, even as Brodus continued to bring people to 10:01 [SPEAKER_00]: As Tubman prayed, Brodus persisted, in the desperation of her situation, grew. 10:08 [SPEAKER_00]: Frustrated that the man wouldn't change, Tubman changed herself. 10:14 [SPEAKER_00]: Now instead of praying for him to soften, she prayed that he would get out of the way. 10:19 [SPEAKER_00]: And to her luck, a week later, Brodus passed away. 10:32 [SPEAKER_00]: With Brotis gone, the likelihood of Tubman being sold and separated from her family was far higher. 10:40 [SPEAKER_00]: Brotis' widow, Eliza, started working on selling the enslaved people in her estate, which threatened to separate everyone. 10:51 [SPEAKER_00]: Tubman refused to wait for her fate to be decided and took matters into her own hands. 10:57 [SPEAKER_00]: She later said, there was one of two things I had a right to, liberty or death. 11:04 [SPEAKER_00]: If I could not have one, I would have the other. 11:08 [SPEAKER_00]: On September 17, 1849, Tubman, along with her brothers, Ben and Harry, plotted their escape. 11:18 [SPEAKER_00]: They had heard of a network called the Underground Railroad. 11:22 [SPEAKER_00]: And though they didn't know where that would end up, they knew it was better than 11:29 [SPEAKER_00]: But on that day, her brother started having second thoughts. 11:33 [SPEAKER_00]: The punishment for being caught escaping was worse than ever seeing each other again. 11:40 [SPEAKER_00]: They convinced Tubman to return to the estate with them, and she had no choice but to comply. 11:47 [SPEAKER_00]: But that didn't last long. 11:50 [SPEAKER_00]: She was determined. 11:52 [SPEAKER_00]: This was happening. 11:54 [SPEAKER_00]: With or without her brothers. 11:57 [SPEAKER_00]: and sure enough, in November of 1849, she tried again. 12:01 [SPEAKER_00]: This time without her brothers. 12:05 [SPEAKER_00]: With this, she started her journey to freedom, utilizing the Underground Railroad. 12:11 [SPEAKER_00]: She navigated through the night, guided by the North Star, and evaded slave catchers. 12:18 [SPEAKER_00]: The specifics of her journey are not public knowledge, and Tubman never said much either to keep herself or her fellow excapies safe. 12:28 [SPEAKER_00]: But reflecting on the moment, she said, When I found I had crossed the line, I looked at my hands to see if I was the same person. 12:38 [SPEAKER_00]: There was such a glory over everything. 12:41 [SPEAKER_00]: The sun came like gold through the trees and over the fields. 12:45 [SPEAKER_00]: And I felt like I was in heaven. 12:48 [SPEAKER_00]: After she escaped to Philadelphia in 1849, Tubman returned to Maryland to rescue the rest of her family. 12:57 [SPEAKER_00]: She ended up undertaking around 13 such missions, rescuing approximately 70 enslaved people, including her own family and friends. 13:07 [SPEAKER_00]: And this aren't her the nickname Moses, 13:11 [SPEAKER_00]: Later during the Civil War, she worked for the Union Army and helped in the raid at Kambahi Ferry, freeing over 700 enslaved people. 13:22 [SPEAKER_00]: After the war, she retired in Auburn, New York, and did something so many formerly enslaved people dreamed of. 13:31 [SPEAKER_00]: She purchased her own home. 13:33 [SPEAKER_00]: and through it all, Tubman remained active in the women's suffrage movement until her declining health led her to be admitted to a home. 13:43 [SPEAKER_00]: And she is just one of many conductors and station masters that changed the lives of African Americans in America. 13:52 [SPEAKER_00]: There was John Logh, a former slave who had escaped to Canada when the British Empire abolished slavery. 14:00 [SPEAKER_00]: Despite the risks he returned to the U.S., changing his name to Germain Wesley Logan. 14:08 [SPEAKER_00]: He studied theology at the O'Night at Institute in New York, turning his life around. 14:14 [SPEAKER_00]: But he never forgot his roots, and soon returned to his old community to provide shelter for approximately 1500 runaway slaves. 14:31 [SPEAKER_00]: They ended up earning the nickname, the King and Queen of the Underground Railroad. 14:40 [SPEAKER_00]: And then there was Levi Coffin. 14:43 [SPEAKER_00]: Levi was a man of many roles, a Quaker, Republican, abolitionist, farmer, business man, and humanitarian. 14:53 [SPEAKER_00]: is impact on the Underground Railroad, particularly in Indiana and Ohio, a significant. 15:00 [SPEAKER_00]: Some even dubbed him the President of the Underground Railroad, overseeing the passage of an estimated 3,000 fugitive slaves under his care. 15:10 [SPEAKER_00]: Born near present day Greensboro, North Carolina, coffins childhood exposure to slavery, 15:22 [SPEAKER_00]: In 1826, his family migrated to Indiana, wanting to escape the persecution slaveholders were inflicting upon Quakers, who did not own slaves and helped them escape. 15:36 [SPEAKER_00]: In Indiana, often settled near the Ohio border with other Quakers in Wayne County. 15:43 [SPEAKER_00]: Engaged and farming became a local merchant. 15:47 [SPEAKER_00]: and eventually emerged as a business leader, making him a respectful figure in his community. 15:55 [SPEAKER_00]: This reputation allowed him to become a major investor and director of the Richmond branch of the second state bank of Indiana in the 1830s. 16:06 [SPEAKER_00]: But Coffin's influence extended beyond banking, he was a keen member of the Underground Railroad, and his wealth and community standing allowed him to provide resources like food, clothing, and transportation, for the people who manage to shatter their chains and escape. 16:26 [SPEAKER_00]: In 1847, responding to the call of friends in the anti-slavery movement, coffin moved southward, Pissinsonati, where he operated a warehouse exclusively selling free labor goods. 16:42 [SPEAKER_00]: but his reputation and his whiteness did not make his life easier. 16:49 [SPEAKER_00]: Slave hunters constantly threatened him, and many of coffin's friends, who were scared for his safety, tried to get him to stop sheltering the runaways in his home. 17:01 [SPEAKER_00]: During the years 1847 to 1857, coffin sheltered hundreds of runaway slaves in his Ohio home. 17:10 [SPEAKER_00]: Strategically located across the river, you can tuck you and not far downriver from Virginia, which were both slave states until after the Americans of a war. 17:23 [SPEAKER_00]: Even in his final years, coffins compassion knew no bounds. 17:29 [SPEAKER_00]: He traveled around the Midwest and ventured overseas to France in Great Britain. 17:35 [SPEAKER_00]: And abroad, he formed eight societies. 17:39 [SPEAKER_00]: To provide essential support, like food, clothing, funds, and most importantly, education to former slaves. 17:48 [SPEAKER_00]: I have two episodes devoted to coffin. 17:52 [SPEAKER_00]: It's episodes 74 and 75. 17:56 [SPEAKER_00]: They're called the road to freedom. 18:00 [SPEAKER_00]: And then there was Isaac Hopper, who operated in Philadelphia in New York City during the time 18:08 [SPEAKER_00]: Following the American Revolutionary War, Pennsylvania became a haven of a fugitive slaves, which attracted Hunters who wanted to kidnap the free-blocked children and sell them into slavery. 18:22 [SPEAKER_00]: And so Hopper found himself working tirelessly to protect the rights of African Americans, and advocate for the end of slavery under the Pennsylvania Abolition Society. 18:35 [SPEAKER_00]: During that time, his efforts help save around 3,300 slaves from a life of unending misery. 18:43 [SPEAKER_00]: But his commitment extended beyond abolitionism. 18:48 [SPEAKER_00]: He oversaw a school called the Negro School for Children, said in Philadelphia. 18:54 [SPEAKER_00]: He volunteered as a teacher in a free school for African American adults, and was one of the founders and secretary of a society for the employment of the poor. 19:06 [SPEAKER_00]: So by 1841, hopper took on new roles, becoming the treasurer and book agent 19:18 [SPEAKER_00]: In 1845, he's shifted his focus to prison reform, dedicating the rest of his life to the prison association of New York. 19:28 [SPEAKER_00]: Later, Hopper's daughter Abigail Hopper Gibbons founded the women's prison association in New York, working for prison reform. 19:39 [SPEAKER_00]: She also established an asylum for female prisoners, naming at the Isaac T. Hopper home in honor 19:49 [SPEAKER_00]: So even though he was not directly involved in the network, he did set up mechanisms to help the people who emerged from the railroad to start leading normal regular lives. 20:04 [SPEAKER_00]: It was the contribution of people like this, and many more prominent figures that helped the Underground Railroad operate 20:13 [SPEAKER_00]: People helped in the ways they could, be it through financial resources, opening their homes to run away, or helping them make the long journey to the border, in a way these people were the underground railroad. 20:32 [SPEAKER_00]: Now the stories of these escapees that not end when they reach the Canadian border, 20:38 [SPEAKER_00]: After successfully escaping the clutches of slavery and reaching the border of British North America, which is present day Canada, these freedom seekers found themselves in a land of promise. 20:52 [SPEAKER_00]: First, let's look at the positive side. 20:55 [SPEAKER_00]: This place helps several advantages, along border with many points of access, far from the reach of slave catchers. 21:04 [SPEAKER_00]: and beyond the jurisdiction of the United States Fugitive Slave Acts. 21:10 [SPEAKER_00]: Ontario became a settling round for most former slaves. 21:15 [SPEAKER_00]: With more than 30,000 individuals having escaped there via the Underground Railroad during its 20-year peak period, 21:25 [SPEAKER_00]: with this black Canadian community's florist in southern Ontario, particularly in the triangular region bordered by Niagara Falls, Toronto and Windsor. 21:37 [SPEAKER_00]: Fort Maldon, located in Amherstburg, Ontario, held significance as the chief place of entry for escape slaves seeking refuge in Canada. 21:49 [SPEAKER_00]: Even Levi Coffin supported this choice and described Fort Maldon as the great landing place and the principal terminus of the Underground Railroad of the West, and so it witnessed approximately 30 people a day, crossing over by steamboat after 1850. 22:10 [SPEAKER_00]: Steamboats like the Sultana played a crucial role, making frequent round trips between great late sports and eating the conveyance of fugitives to Fort Maldon. 22:23 [SPEAKER_00]: Captains like CW Applebee facilitated the journey, ensuring safe passage for those seeking freedom. 22:31 [SPEAKER_00]: But then there's the negative side, because struggles were not entirely out of their lives. 22:38 [SPEAKER_00]: Upon reaching their destinations, many freedom seekers continued to face problems. 22:44 [SPEAKER_00]: While they were no longer at risk from slave catchers, the racial discrimination persisted. 22:50 [SPEAKER_00]: In Canada, they had to compete for jobs with Europeans, who were migrating emasses. 22:58 [SPEAKER_00]: Later with the outbreak of the Civil War in the US, many Black refugees left Canada to enlist in the Union Army, some returned to Canada later, while others remained in the US. 23:13 [SPEAKER_00]: A lot of the people did return to the American South after the war, mostly driven by a long desire to reconnect with family and friends. 23:23 [SPEAKER_00]: And since then, while some things have gotten better, some still have not. 23:29 [SPEAKER_00]: Some places in these areas continue to hold dangerous sentiments. 23:35 [SPEAKER_00]: While overtly, things may seem fine. 23:38 [SPEAKER_00]: The prejudices from way back then in the 1700s seem to persist in new ways. 23:46 [SPEAKER_00]: And sadly, there's no underground escape from this. 23:53 [SPEAKER_00]: Thank you for listening to this episode of Home Town History. 23:57 [SPEAKER_00]: If you could, spare a moment. 23:59 [SPEAKER_00]: I'd appreciate it if you'd leave me a review. 24:02 [SPEAKER_00]: It really helps. 24:05 [SPEAKER_00]: Thank you.
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