The Underground Railroad was a secret network of routes and safe houses in the United States. Black slaves used the Underground Railroad to escape from slavery. It was created in the early 1800s, and was at its biggest between 1850 and 1860.[1] The term “Underground Railroad” also describes the abolitionists, both black and white, free and enslaved, who helped the slaves along the way.[2]
Routes on the Underground Railroad led to free states, Canada, Mexico and overseas.[3] While traveling along these routes, slaves received help from abolitionists and those who had sympathy to their cause.[4] British North America was another popular stopping point. Slavery was not allowed there, and its long border gave many points of access. More than 30,000 people were said to have escaped there using the network at its best,[5] although U.S. Census statistics shows only 6,000.[6]
One statistic suggests that by 1850, about 100,000 slaves had escaped to freedom by the "Railroad".[1]
The Underground Railroad fugitives' stories are recorded in the Underground Railroad Records.
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