Slavery and National Underground Railroad History

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Slavery and National Underground Railroad History

• University Sojourner Truth
• E-Mentoring Program
• October

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U-STEP

• The University Sojourner Truth E-Mentoring
  Program is a collaboration between the Sojourner
  Truth Technical Training Center at Adrian College
  and the Center for Afro-American and African
  Studies at the University of Michigan.

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African Enslavement

• Tribal prisoners of war, or captives from enemy
  tribes were often the first to become enslaved.

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Slave Ship

• Once at the coast the slaves would be turned over
  to white dealers or Arab traders in Northern
  Africa.
• There they were branded before being placed on a
  slave ship as in this image.

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The Slave Ship Brookes

• Slaves were forced to lie side by side in spaces
  less than 2 feet apart.
• The ship Brookes was constructed to hold 450
  slaves.
• A reported 600 slaves were often found on this
  ship.

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The Amistad Story

• Cinque and others destined for slavery witnessed
  the horrors onboard the slave ship and decided to
  plot their escape.

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The Middle Passage

• The Middle Passage disease, hundreds of
  individuals lying in their own waste, decaying
  bodies tied to slaves struggling to stay alive.
• Few sailors signed on to do the Middle Passage
  twice.

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The Auction Block

• Placed on a large platform, slaves were bid on by
  large groups of people.
• Their teeth, eyes, and appendages were looked at
  and discussed.

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Slave Pen in Alexandria, VA

• Remnants of the holding pens, where slaves were
  held before they were auctioned and again before
  they were lead to the plantation.

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Slave Coffle

• Chains around their necks, wrists, and ankles,
  they were pushed on by the whip and the yelling
  of their new masters.

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Plantation in Savannah, GA

• The master usually arranged for the marriages
  between the slaves.

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Field Hands

• Slaves were used in every aspect of plantation
  work.

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Horrors of Slavery

• Devices ranged from neck braces that had spears
  sticking out the sides to restrict movement, to
  shackles on the legs and arms or spears located
  on the legs that would cut the slaves if they
  moved.

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Running Man

• The horrors and cruelties that the enslaved
  faced daily led many of the slaves to run away.
• Many were captured, killed, or brought back to
  their plantations where they would undergo more
  torture.

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Drinking Gourd

• Slaves had to learn astrology in order to study
  the stars and locate the various constellations
  that would lead to the North.

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Moss

• Moss served as a compass, only growing on the
  north side of the tree.

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Henry Box Brown

• Ingenious methods of escape began to be developed
  by the escaping slaves.

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Frederick Douglass

• Abolitionists began publicly speaking out against
  slavery.
• Mr. Douglass, an escaped and fugitive slave made
  it his life journey to abolish slavery.

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National UGRR Routes

• This map shows various routes on the Underground
  Railroad.
• The importance of the map is to illustrate all of
  the ways and places that escaped slaves traveled,
  mostly on foot.

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Canada

• Canada not only accepted the fugitive slaves but
  once there, the runaways gained freedom and
  independence.

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Equal Sisterhood and Brotherhood of Humankind

• The Underground Railroad was a network of people
  who came together regardless of race, gender,
  economical status, and religion to end what was
  morally wrong.