Kalli B. and Aubrey B.

The Underground Railway

Kalli B. and Aubrey B.
Northern Alberta Regional Fair
Grande Prairie, AB

The underground railroad was a historical event that effected many groups of people, for a lot of years. It not only affected the United States, but also, Canada. 

Some of the people affected were the ones who risked their lives every day; like conductors and spies, African American slaves, and white slave owners. Some of the those conductors were Fredrick Douglass, John Brown, Joshia Henson and Reverend Leonard Grimes. With a couple being conductors and spies like Harriet Tubman and Ellen Craft. Conductors was a code word for people who guided slaves to freedom and spies were the undercover people who tried to keep secret the ones seeking their freedom. It effected many African Americans in many ways. Both good and bad. It could give them a chance at a new way of life and a chance to make their own decisions. However, if they got caught, they may be sold to a new “master”, be beaten or killed. It also effected the white slave owners by giving them less help to take care of their land, which would make them have to find their old slaves or buy new owns or make their owned people work harder. 

Many important events occurred before, during and after the Underground Railroad development. One of the first reasons would be in 1619 with the first slaves coming from Africa to Virginia. In 1808, it did become illegal to import slaves to the U.S. from other countries. Then, Harriet Tubman escaped slavery in 1849 and became one of the most famous and helpful conductor to never be caught. In 1863, President Abraham Lincoln created the Emancipation Proclamation that said all enslaved people in the U.S. were now free people. And one of the last important events for this happened in 1865 with the Civil War saying that slavery was over. 

The Underground Railroad didn’t just effect the United States but also Canada and Africa. How it effected Africa was that they couldn’t legally sell slaves anymore, so, they had to get secretive to be able to keep selling people. For Canada, it gave a safe haven feel to the ones who could make it. The Underground Railroad wasn’t a real railroad and it wasn’t underground. It was multiple paths where slaves could escape from the U.S. to Canada. Many people, both “white” and African American, risked their lives to free the slaves, in hopes of giving them equal rights and freedooms.

What sources and evidence did you consult for your project? What different perspectives did they provide on your topic?

We used knowledge from when we were in grade 5, books and many websites. We tried to use sources that focused more on what people like Harriet Tubman accomplished and others that focused more on what everyone did to help with the Underground Railroad, plus teachers and books showed us that slaveholders or so-called “owners” were bad people that did cruel things to others. It also taught me that us keeping slaves used code words to communicate with each other to hide from people who wanted to keep them as slaves.

What is the historical significance of your topic?

One of the historical significances of our topic was the fact that thousands of African Americans were saved because of the Underground Railroad. Some of the short term impacts were that some slaves were caught an often beaten and then sold to another owner. And some slaves managed to make it to the freedom they were hoping for. Some of the long term effects for the beginning of giving African Americans people the rights to freedom and to be able to make more of their own choices. 

Some people that were affected were the enslaved African Americans, Harriet Tubman, and the “owners”. It affected the enslaved people by giving them a little bit of hope and a chance of freedom for them and their loved ones. It affected Harriet Tubman because it made her decide to risk her life many times to help others and eventually herself in 1849. It also affected the ” owners” because they lost many of their slaves which often made them have to change their way of life which many did not what to do.

Why did you choose this topic? 

We chose this topic because we knew a lot about the Underground Railroad but we wanted to still learn more. We also wanted to share this knowledge with the world. We found this topic to be very interesting and cool to learn about.