[Music] welcome to another flipped classroom lesson from students in history this one is on the Underground Railroad the conductor's the stationmaster's the history of those who risk their lives and freedom to help enslave people to freedom across from the south to the north and Canada we have a guided notes outline sheet that you can use to follow along with this PowerPoint as we go so we'll start off with the history of the Underground Railroad it really began with the first fugitive slave law that was enacted in 1793 it made it illegal to help those who were escaping from slavery so this really forced those who were trying to help to go underground to be much more clandestine about their processes to try to help people escape slavery from the south to the north or to Canada or to the west or even outside of the country and then in 1850 as the Underground Railroad was growing and more and more people were escaping slavery year after year a tougher law was passed as part of the compromise of 1850 a tougher Fugitive Slave Law that required law enforcement forces in the north and any city Boston New York to arrest suspected escapees and this really affected their freedom in through for the rest of their lives so you escaped from slavery you feel like you're safe in New York City or in Boston but a Boston police officer could arrest you at any point 10 years 20 years later in theory for escaping slavery in the South if you were helping those there were fines there were prison there was other penalties for hate helping people escape from slavery and that was part of that tougher fugitive slave law that was passed in eighteen now the Underground Railroad itself is very dramatic this is a picture from a book about those who escaped from slavery by William still we'll look at him a little bit later there were dramatic scenes like this of conflict from those who are escaping because they were desperate to never ever go back to slavery in the south I really developed it was a so the entire road was a secret route I was developed by abolitionists former slaves free men in the north sympathetic to the cause of ending slavery and the goal was always to have a station house let's say that's a house or a barn or just anywhere where people could stay hiding within a day's walk so if you are walking from let's say Georgia or South Carolina that's a long way hundreds and hundreds of miles to the north I always make sure there was somewhere where they could go within a day's walk to hide out so it required quite a lot of people along the way if you're thinking about how far that is and it also required a lot of secrecy and coded messages to help people escape slavery and a lot of people talk about the quilts whether secret messages were sewn into quilts no one's quite sure how much truth there isn't that but coded messages were for sure used by those escaping one example from William stills book was he would say quote I have sent via a two o'clock for large hands and two small hands and that the for large hams would be for adults two children were two small hams and this meant that they're being sent by train from Harrisburg to Pennsylvania just that it was kind of different we have a time period would regard the train stations and what they could meet those who are being led to freedom along those houses or stations where people would hide out so looking at the routes to freedom here is a modern map that shows kind of the dominant ways to freedom usually taking rivers would speed up your route it would also hide your tracks better than if you were over going over land it's usually much much safer that way a lot of people tried to get to British Canada where you wouldn't have that fear of the Fugitive Slave Act returning you to freedom others in the South flew to the Bahamas or into places in the Caribbean this is a primary source from the time map that was shows more detailed routes in the north helping those escaping slavery to Canada through routes in the Great Lakes or across st. Lawrence River and towards mud or to Montreal sometimes taking sea routes if possible that would often be difficult as well and there were songs as we heard at the beginning that follow the drinkin gourd song was developed during this time period the drinking gourd is the Big Dipper following the North Star heading north to freedom we want to well let's take a look at some conductors and station masters along the Underground Railroad if you were a conductor you were a guide and the most famous of that of course would be Harriet Tubman guiding people to freedom stationmaster's were the people who opened their homes their houses their barns their farms as a station along the Underground Railroad others were known as stockholders a stockholder would be someone who financed who paid for some of these trips who paid people to try to help out these former slaves benefactors who were willing to give money to help out first one we'll look at is of course the most famous everyone knows Harriet Tubman what her first times was helping escaped slate of people who escaped slavery join John Brown's famous raid in Harpers Ferry she was often called general Tubman because of her actions during Civil War she actually worked as a cook and nurse and a scout and spy because she news too much about this knew so much about the south but she was probably the most famous conductor on the Underground Railroad earned the nickname freed of Moses for leading her people to freedom she made 19 trips back to the south each time risking her life and her freedom helped over 300 people in her lifetime achieve their freedom as I mentioned she helped John Brown and planning his raid but certainly one of the most famous and deservedly so people who helped along the Underground Railroad Harriet Tubman lived quite a long life - she lived into her 80s that's where we have photographs of her into lives until nineteen 1913 you think about that's really not that long ago when she finally passed away our next one named Levi coffin Levi coffin began helping fugitive slaves he lived in Indiana and he started helping former slaves he was a Quaker and Quakers are peaceful people some of the most famous help people who helped those escaped slavery who were Quakers because it was part of their religious beliefs to help others and Levi coffin is one of the most famous of those he was business leader in Indiana and he became known as the president of the underground Road because he donated so much money as a financial benefactor to helping people escape slavery he was involved in some stations in Ohio as well in addition to Indy he actually got a lot of his neighbor's to help out as well he was kind of influential this is a time where often you'd be hesitant to talk about this sort of thing because he never know who's gonna inform others he called it the mysterious Road he didn't refer to it as the Underground Railroad but he estimated later on in his life that he helped about a hundred slaves every year escape now he was you don't really keep track of this sort of thing because he didn't want to have those notes captured and people find you but he would sometimes have to begin fools of people who would be to be transporting to north and over time he estimated there are about 3,000 former slaves and slave people who pass through his property or who he gave money to to help lead them to freedom our next one Williams still african-american in Philadelphia he compiled stories of former slaves and heat and because of him we know more about those escaping slavery than we ever would because of the interviews that he kept and he was born free in New Jersey a free african-american in Jersey he's called the father of the Underground Railroad because the money he contributed because of the help he gave he organized the Pennsylvania anti-slavery society he served as a stationmaster in Philadelphia as a lot of men and women and children were escaping slavery in the south and passed through Philadelphia he provided them food clothing he interviewed them to detailed notes on their stories he helped over 800 men women and children escape slavery and kept these detailed records of them that we have today and he compiled into that book and it's because of his interviewing that we know so much about them his daughter Caroline interesting note actually became one of the most famous physicians in America one of the first African American physicians in the United States actually so William still say he lived into the 1900s as well not that long ago another one another Quaker this time we're looking at Lucretia coffin mutt now she is a cousin to Levi coffin who he looked at earlier she's also famous for her suffrage activities women's rights advocate and other Quaker she helped write the famous declaration of sentiments that was presented at the Seneca Falls convention for women's rights in 1848 she helped to found the Pennsylvania anti-slavery society and after the Fugitive Slave Act was passed in 1850 she was inspired to open up her own home as a station a secret station along the Underground Railroad in Pennsylvania helping guide those escaping slavery through Pennsylvania and on to the North where they would hopefully get their freedom once and for all in Canada William whipper William whipper was a wealthy man a free african-american business owner he was born in Lancaster County Pennsylvania his mother was a slave former slave house servant actually and her his father was the white owner who owned the home and he grew up as a free man because of that he but opened up a successful lumber yard in Columbia Pennsylvania and he was another founder of the American moral reform society and those moral reforms were predominantly focused on ending slavery and organized a society without racial boundaries you tried to promote educating African Americans establishing a black press and newspapers for focusing on the history and stories of african-americans he said he donated over a thousand dollars every year to help those escaping slavery who were passing through Pennsylvania so he would be a financial benefactor for those he was risking his life and freedom costly by helping them especially after the Fugitive Slave Law was passed William Lipper he wrote down a lot of his notes as well of those who he helped free and we know a lot about those who passed through Pennsylvania because of William whipper our next one Robert Pervis Robert Pervis you can see him here you wouldn't maybe know it by looking at this picture but he was of a mixed ethnic background his and a very interesting story as well his grandmother was named Dido Baraka she was kidnapped when she was 12 years old in Morocco and she was sold into slavery and brought to Charleston South Carolina but when her owner died she was freed and she married a Jewish German immigrants so he she was there for a free woman of color she married this guy William Purvis who was a wealthy business owner from England and those were his parents Robert Pervis founded the Philadelphia vigilance committee which was dedicated to helping those escaped slavery passed through Philadelphia he operated a station at his home until it eventually became too dangerous in the years before the Civil War she eventually then moved to a rural area outside of Philadelphia but he continued to help people escape slavery even after that they were wealthy they've dated donated excuse me a lot of money to those escaping slavery as well to help them get a start his younger brother Joseph will has actually worked with William whipper and helped William whipper get people to freedom as well next we're looking at Steven Byers Steven Myers here he was born into slavery but he got his freedom when he was 18 he founded an abolitionist newspaper in New York and he led the Albany station on the Underground Railroad one of the most dominant largest stations along the Underground Railroad because Albany is in upstate New York and it was close to the border of Canada where people would be trying to get to obviously for their freedom in 1856 just before the Civil War the Albany vigilance committee who is dedicated to helping former slaves past who were passing through got their freedom they passed a resolution honoring Stephen Myers for helping 287 enslaved people get their freedom in just that year so 287 a year you think about that's a lot of people who is helping in just that year so a couple more next we're looking at another one of the most famous probably next to Harriet Tubman one of the most famous and he Frederick Douglass at the time was probably the most famous african-american man in the United States born in 1818 he escaped slavery in 1838 so he was just a young man and he we know a lot about he was passing through Baltimore he had kind of faked documents and he wrote about how how how it was when they were checking the tickets and checking their papers on the train as he was escaping his freedom and it's kind of hoping and praying that they wouldn't find him out he went on to become the most prominent abolitionist in America worked with and met Abraham Lincoln quite a bit to kind of encourage using African Americans in the Civil War fighting on the Union side his home in New York was often the final station of the Underground Railroad on Rochester New York for many who were passing on to Canada as well so looking at all these guys we've what are the results of our Underground Railroad which obviously existed for quite a number of years it's estimated that about a hundred thousand men women and children escaped slavery in the south and achieved freedom via the Underground Railroad a hundred thousand most of those who were escaping slavery settled in Ontario Canada especially after that 1850 huge ative Slave Act prior to that you had a lot kind of settling in New York Philadelphia Washington DC but once that fugitives Dave log law was passed and they realized they couldn't guarantee their freedom in New York or or in any city in the North you had more going up to Canada but when the Civil War began you had quite a few who actually returned to the United States to fight in the Civil War and help their families often who might still be enslaved in the south help them get their freedom so the Underground Railroad one of the most impactful times in American history the years leading up to the Civil War the railroad lasted anywhere between you know you're talking about beginning in the 1780s 1790s up through the Civil War beginning in 1861 and obviously after the civil war ends in 1865 you wouldn't have need for the Underground Railroad then but hopefully this flipped classroom lesson helps you learn a little bit more about the Underground Railroad its impact and some of those famous conductors and station masters like Robert Pervis wave whipper and of course Harriet Tubman Frederick Douglass and others stay tuned for more lessons from students of history on the rest of American and world history coming soon but take care