1. UNDERGROUND
RAILROAD
In the 1850s being an African American simply meant one
thing, Slavery. Getting out of slavery kept their hope alive.

2. THE START
A more organized system in assisting the slaves towards
freedom comes about at the end of the 18th century.
In 1786 George Washington complained about how one of
his runaway slaves was helped by a ‘society of Quakers,
formed for such purposes.’ The system grew, and around
1831 it was dubbed ‘The Underground Railroad,’ after the
then emerging steam railroads. The system even used terms
used in railroading.”

3. THE START CONT.
“The Underground Railroad, a vast network of people who
helped fugitive slaves escape to the North and to Canada,
was not run by any single organization or person. Rather, it
consisted of many individuals--many whites but
predominantly black--who knew only of the local efforts to
aid fugitives and not of the overall operation.”
Between 1810 to 1850 it was estimated that the South lost
around 100,000 slaves

4. SPIRITUALS
“For Africans who wanted to escape slavery, songs had
another important purpose as well. They could be used to
communicate. Their songs, which are sometimes called
spirituals, were passed from one group to another- and
along the with the songs came the code.”
“Many of these slave songs talked about ‘going home’ or
‘being bound for the land of Canaan.’ If you just heard the
song, you might think the people were singing about dying
and going to heaven.” The songs were actually about gaining
their freedom by going to North to Canada.

5. SONGS OF FREEDOM
“The spirituals and their lyrics were part of a sophisticated
system that involved no incriminating evidence for
plantation owners or overseers to find. Codes imbedded in
the spirituals instructed slaves as to when, how and where to
escape. They also included warning signals, such as the
message of ‘Wade in the Water’, informing slaves to travel
along the riverbank so the dogs giving the chase would be
thrown off their scent.”

6. “Most slaves could not read or write; in fact, it was
against the law to teach slaves to read or write. The
spirituals provided a means of verbal, coded
communication understood only by those in the
Underground Railroad. Outsiders generally
interpreted the spirituals on a literal level, while
slaves knew the meaning of the messages hidden
within the words and phrases. Through the words, the
refrains, the ‘call and response’ method of singing,
and the rhythmic sounds produced by dancing feet,
slaves could decipher these hidden meanings.”

7. “The coming of the railroad train opened up a faster
means of transportation for fleeing slaves, and
created a whole new spiritual vocabulary. The word
‘chariot’ was replaced by the word ‘train’ and other
phrases relevant to rail transportation. One example
is the spiritual, “The Gospel Train's a Comin’. The
gospel Train quickly became a code name for the
Underground Railroad. When slaves heard this song
being sung, they knew that either a conductor was
among them, or that fleeing slaves were close by,
along with an opportunity to escape.”

8. FOLLOW THE
DRINKING GOURD
“To follow the North Star
was the message embedded
in this spiritual;
instructions are included in
the song to follow the
points of the drinking
gourd (the Big Dipper) to
the brightest star, which is
the North Star.”

9. FOLLOW THE DRINKING
GOURD CONT.
Lyrics:
When the Sun comes back
And the first quail calls
Follow the Drinking Gourd,
For the old man is a-waiting for to carry you to
freedom
If you follow the Drinking Gourd
The riverbank makes a very good road.
The dead trees will show you the way.
Left foot, peg foot, traveling on,
Follow the Drinking Gourd.
The river ends between two hills
Follow the Drinking Gourd.
There’s another river on the other side
Follow the Drinking Gourd.
When the great big river meets the little river
Follow the Drinking Gourd.
For the old man is a-waiting for to carry to
freedom
If you follow the Drinking Gourd.

10. STEAL AWAY
http://youtu.be/0J8f_1RYubw
The steal away song was sang by a lot of slaves while
traveling the underground railroad.
“Harriet Tubman would tell you how to sneak across the
bridge over the Choptank River and where to find friends in
a place called Delaware.

11. Steal away was first sang by Nat Turner who led a slave revolt.
When the revolt failed and Turner was killed no slave was allowed to speak his name, they cleverly
incorporated his name in other songs however.
Lyrics:
Chorus:
Steal away, steal away!
Steal away to Jesus!
Steal away, steal away home!
I ain’t got long to stay here!
My Lord calls me!
He calls me by the thunder!
The trumpet sounds in my soul!
I ain’t got long to stay here!
Chorus:
My Lord, he calls me!
He calls me by the lightning!
The trumpet sounds it ina my soul!
I ain’t got long to stay here!
Chorus:

12. THE BALLAD OF THE
UNDERGROUND RAILROAD
Lyrics: Led the way at night,
The Underground Train, Guiding the train
Strange as it seems, By the North Star Light.
Carried many passengers The passengers were
And never was see The fugitive slaves
It wasn’t made of wood, Running from slavery
It wasn’t made of steel; And its evil ways.
A man-made train that Running from the whip
Ran without wheels. And the overseer,
The train was known From the slave block
By many a name. And the Auctioneer.
But the greatest of all They didn’t want their masters
Was “The Freedom Train” To catch them again,
The Quakers, the Indians, So men dressed as women
Gentiles and Jews, And the women dressed as men.
Were some of the people
Who made up the crews.
Free Blacks and Christians
And Atheists, too,
Were the rest of the people
Who made up the crews.
Conductors and agents

13. HARRIET TUBMAN
Harriet Tubman was often called “Moses”
http://youtu.be/Rp5Zd0bYPjQ
She was a former slave who ran away in 1849 but
came back and helped other slaves gain freedom
guided by her “visions”
Harriet never lost a single passenger and if there
was not enough room for a slave she would tell
them to follow the North Star to freedom in Canada

14. SWING LOW SWEET
CHARIOT
“This hymn was said to be a Chorus:
Lyrics
favorite of Harriet Tubman. Swing low, sweet chariot,
Comin' for to carry me home!
She loved spirituals, and I looked over Jordan and what did I see,
Comin' for to carry me home!
even wrote her own. A band of angels comin' after me,
Tubman used spirituals as Comin' for to carry me home!
Chorus:
signals to hiding slavs to If you get there before I do,
Comin' for to carry me home,
indicate whether it was Jess tell my friends that I'm acomin' too,
sage to come out of hiding Comin' for to carry me home.
Chorus:
and continue on the I'm sometimes up and sometimes down,
Comin' for to carry me home,
journey.” But still my soul feels heavenly bound
Comin' for to carry me home!

15. WADE IN THE WATER
“Harriet Tubman sang this Lyrics:
Chorus:
spiritual as a warning to Wade in the water,
Wade in the water children.
runaway slaves. To escaping Wade in the water
God’s gonna trouble the water
slaves, the song told them to Who’s all those children all dressed in Red?
God’s gonna trouble the water.
abandon the path and move Must be the ones that Moses led.
God’s gonna trouble the water.
into the water. By traveling Chorus:
What are those children all dressed in White?
along the water’s edge or God’s gonna trouble the water.
Must be the ones of the Israelites.
across a body of water, the God’s gonna trouble the water.
Chorus:
slaves would throw chasing Who are these children all dressed in Blue?
God’s gonna trouble the water.
dogs and their keepers off the Must be the ones that made it through.
scent.” God’s gonna trouble the water.
Chorus:

16. DARLING NELLY GRAY
“Slaves were bought and sold at the whim of their owners with no regard for
family or friendship ties within the slave community. ‘Darling Nelly Gray’ tells
the story of two young lovers whose romance ended win Nelly was sold and
taken to a plantation far away from that of her young man, Ned.”
“To express his and Ned’s sadness, the professor composed a little verse, and
then added a melody. Sung sorrowfully by his glee club, it soon became very
popular and he eventually added more lyrics to create a full-blown song. The
sheet music was soon for sale on newsstands, and, not long after, was sung,
whistled and hummed in every state.”

17. Lyrics:
There’s a low green valley on the old Kentucky shore,
There I’ve while many happy hours away.
A-sitting and a-singing by the little cottage door,
Where lived my darling Nelly Gray.
Chorus:
Oh! My poor Nelly Gray, have they taken you away,
And I’ll never see my darling anymore.
I’m a sitting by the river and I’m weeping all the day,
For you’ve gone from the old Kentucky shore.
One night I went to see her but “she’s gone,” the neighbors say,
The white man bound her with his chain,
They have taken her to Georgia for to wear her life away,
As she toils in the cotton and the cane.
Chorus:

18. THE GOSPEL TRAIN’S
A’ COMIN’
“Slaves sung the spiritual, The Gospel Train’s A’ Comin’, to
alert other slaves that a group was preparing to escape and
travel north to freedom. ‘Gospel Train’ was code for the
Underground Railroad.”
“Plantation owners would be unaware their slaves were
planning to escape; slave songs were part of the day’s
routine. A plantation owner would simply hear the religious
and Biblical references and assume the slaves were singing
for spiritual reasons.”

19. Lyrics:
The Gospel train’s a’comin’
I hear it just at hand
I hear the car wheel rumblin’
And rollin’ thro’ the land
Chorus:
Get on board little children
Get on board little children
Get on board little children
There's room for many more
I hear the train a’comin'
She's comin' round the curve
She's loosened all her steam and brakes
And strainin' ev'ry nerve
Chorus:
The fare is cheap and all can go
The rich and poor are there
No second class aboard this train
No difference in the fare

20. TRAVELING
“For the slave, running away to the North was anything but
easy. The first step was to escape from the slaveholder. For
many slaves, this meant relying on his or her own resources.
Sometimes a ‘conductor,’ posing as a slave. would enter a
plantation and then guide the runaways northward. The
fugitives would move at night. They would generally travel
between 10 to 20 miles to the next station, where they would
rest and eat, hiding in barns and other out-of-the-way
places. While they waited, a message would be sent to the
next station to alert its stationmaster.”

21. TO ENTER A HOUSE OR
NOT?
While traveling the underground railroad the slaves would
stop at different houses to rest for a little bit before they
continued on their journey.
A lot of slaves were very skeptical on whether or not to stay
in a house or not since most of them were white houses.
Harriet Tubman told all the slaves that if there was a lantern
on a hitching post the house was safe to stay at, and you
could trust the family.

22. THOMAS GARRETT
“A good friend of Tubman’s, Garrett has worked
on The Underground Railroad for almost 40
years. A few years ago he was arrested and fined
$5,400. It didn’t stop him for a minute.”
Thomas Garrett was in Wilmington which was
one of the first big cities that the slaves would
see on the way to gaining their freedom in
Canada

23. PHILADELPHIA,
PENNSYLVANIA
Even though the slaves were very excited to reach Philadelphia, a free state,
unfortunately the slaves were still seen as slaves and would be returned to their
masters if caught.
William Still was born in Philadelphia and one of the few African Americans that
were born free from slavery.
William Still was able to read and write and a leader in the fight against
abolishing slavery.

24. ROCHESTER, NEW
YORK
“Weeks of trudging, including a grueling passage of almost
250 miles through the Appalachian Mountains, have
brought you to Rochester.”
Fredrick Douglass who publishes the North Star and Susan
B. Anthony are two of the people that could be helping you
on the journey to Canada, but first you have to make it past
Lake Erie.

25. LAKE ERIE
“Across Lake Erie lies Canada. As winter takes hold, chunks
of ice have begun to form. You might find someone to row
you across, or you could try leaping from one ice floe to
another. Either way, you’ll be freezing cold. Yet staying
exposes you-and your helpers-to slave hunters”

26. FREE AT LAST
The song free at last was sang by all of the slaves who finally
made it to Canada and were free from their enslavement.
http://youtu.be/FU3oqj0ICfc

27. BIBLIOGRAPHY
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/railroad/j8.html
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p2944.html
http://pathways.thinkport.org/secrets/music1.cfm
http://www.osblackhistory.com/songs.php