1. The Underground
Railroad
By: Kristen Brown, Emily Zeitler, Clint Lytle,
Jacob Little
2. The Underground Railroad
The Underground Railroad, a group of people who helped fugitive slaves escape to the North and to Canada, was not run by any
single organization or person. It consisted of many people, many whites but mostly blacks, who knew only of the local efforts to
aid fugitives and not of the overall operation. Still, it effectively moved hundreds of slaves northward each year, according to one
estimate, the South lost 100,000 slaves between 1810 and 1850.
An organized system to assist runaway slaves seems to have begun towards 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
fugitives would move at night. They would generally travel between 10 and 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 sent to the next station to alert its
stationmaster.
The fugitives would also travel by train and boat, conveyances that sometimes had to be paid for. Money was also needed to
improve the appearance of the runaways, a black man, woman, or child in tattered clothes would invariably attract suspicious
eyes. This money was donated by individuals and also raised by various groups, including vigilance committees.
Slave houses
fugitive slaves The drinking well
3.
4. Follow The Drinking Gourd
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.
5. The Story Behind The Song
A one-legged sailor, know as Peg Leg Joe, worked at various plantations as he made his way around the South. To each job, he would become
friendly with the slaves and teach them the words to the song, Follow The Drinking Gourd.
6. How Black History Month was Established
Carter G. Woodson
Black History Month was originated in 1926, founded by Carter G.
Woodson as Negro History Week. The month of February was selected in
deference to Fredrick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln who were both
born in that month.
Carter G. Woodson was the son of a slave. Woodson was born in New
Canton, Virginia on December 19, 1875. He began high school at the age
of 20 and then proceeded to study at Berea College, the University of
Chicago, the Sorbonne, and Harvard University, where he earned a Ph.D.
in 1912. Carter G. Woodson founded the Association for the Study of
Negro and History in 1915 to train Black historians and to collect,
preserve, and publish documents on Black life and Black people.
Woodson spent his life working to educate all people about the vast
contributions made by Black man and women throughout history. Mr.
Woodson died on April 3, 1950 and Black History Month is his legacy.
Carter G. Woodson
7. Harriet Tubman
Harriet Tubman, she was an African-American abolitionist, humanitarian, and Union spy
during the American Civil War. She was born a slave near Cambridge, Maryland. She was one
of the most famous conductors from the Underground Railroad. After her successful escape to
freedom, she came back to Maryland to lead family members, friends, and other slaves to
freedom. Only traveling at night, she used, and routes thorough the woods and fields. She
married a free black named John Tubman and took his last name. Her name was Araminta
Ross; she later changed her first name to Harriet, after her mother. Her whole reason of running
away was because she was going to be sold. She made her way to Pennsylvania and soon after
to Philadelphia, where she found work and saved her money. Tubman carried a gun which she
used to threaten the fugitives of they became too tired of decided to turn back, telling them,
“You`ll be free or die.” By 1856, Tubman`s capture would have brought a $40,00 reward from
the South. On one occasion, she overheard some men reading her wanted poster, which stated
that she was illiterate. She promptly pulled out a book and feigned reading it. The ploy was
enough to fool the men. Tubman had made the perilous trip to slave country 19 times by 1860,
including one especially challenging journey in which she rescued her 70-year-old parents. Of
The famed heroine, she was known as “Moses.”
Harriet Tubman
8. Henry “Box” Brown
Brown was born as a slave on a tobacco plantation outside Richmond, Virginia. From an early
age, he was a favorite of his masters and became a house servant. He ad more freedom than the
average slave, and eventually, when his master died was sent to Richmond to work in the
tobacco factory of one of his master`s sons. There, Henry gained a semblance of freedom. He
was able to live in his own residence, became a trusted member of a black church where he
joined the choir, and married a slave (who had a different master) and had three children. The
only problem was that he and his family weren`t free, which meant they could be sold and
separated at any time.
Henry “Box” Brown
