1 00:00:00,600 --> 00:00:03,800 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class from how 2 00:00:03,840 --> 00:00:13,840 Speaker 1: Stuff Works dot Com. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. 3 00:00:13,920 --> 00:00:17,520 Speaker 1: I'm editor Candis Gibson, joined by staff writer Jane McGrath Saylor. 4 00:00:18,000 --> 00:00:20,439 Speaker 1: Jane has a very coffey smile on her face. I 5 00:00:20,440 --> 00:00:23,279 Speaker 1: wonder why, Well, I was just thinking, Candids, have you 6 00:00:23,320 --> 00:00:26,400 Speaker 1: ever seen the Saturn Live skit with Michael Myers where 7 00:00:26,400 --> 00:00:30,120 Speaker 1: he plays Linda Richmond in coffee Talk. Yeah, it's one 8 00:00:30,160 --> 00:00:33,400 Speaker 1: of my favorites. I love it. Yeah, well it's so Afroca. 9 00:00:33,560 --> 00:00:36,559 Speaker 1: For a topic that we're going to discuss today, the 10 00:00:36,680 --> 00:00:43,720 Speaker 1: Underground Railroad neither underground, no road discuss discott that's right, 11 00:00:43,720 --> 00:00:47,080 Speaker 1: it's and he's he would be right if he said that, because, um, 12 00:00:47,080 --> 00:00:50,599 Speaker 1: the Underground Railroad is a pretty fascinating UH network. It's 13 00:00:50,600 --> 00:00:53,360 Speaker 1: a secret network that exists in the nineteenth century in 14 00:00:53,360 --> 00:00:57,880 Speaker 1: America to help African American slaves escape from slavery. And 15 00:00:58,240 --> 00:01:01,520 Speaker 1: so much about the Underground rail Road remains a secret 16 00:01:01,640 --> 00:01:04,360 Speaker 1: because the origins are very murky and there were no 17 00:01:04,440 --> 00:01:06,959 Speaker 1: written records about it at the time to protect the 18 00:01:07,000 --> 00:01:10,800 Speaker 1: secrecy of the network. So things that we know come 19 00:01:10,880 --> 00:01:13,480 Speaker 1: from accounts of people who made it through the underground 20 00:01:13,560 --> 00:01:17,320 Speaker 1: railroad or people who served it. And I actually learned 21 00:01:17,360 --> 00:01:20,640 Speaker 1: some pretty interesting things about the underground railroad when I 22 00:01:20,680 --> 00:01:22,760 Speaker 1: was doing some research on it. And I guess the 23 00:01:22,800 --> 00:01:26,959 Speaker 1: first one is that it was really really expensive, and 24 00:01:27,080 --> 00:01:29,960 Speaker 1: it makes sense, but I'd never really thought about it before. 25 00:01:30,000 --> 00:01:32,640 Speaker 1: But we're talking about fugitive slaves who would have to 26 00:01:32,640 --> 00:01:37,000 Speaker 1: be clothed and fed and hidden and provide it with transportation, 27 00:01:37,160 --> 00:01:40,120 Speaker 1: sometimes for day, sometimes for weeks on end. That's right. 28 00:01:40,160 --> 00:01:43,039 Speaker 1: And because it was so dangerous, all these precautions were 29 00:01:43,120 --> 00:01:46,680 Speaker 1: very necessary. And again because of the danger, a lot 30 00:01:46,720 --> 00:01:50,160 Speaker 1: of people um abolitionist phil anthropists, they were called stockholders. 31 00:01:50,200 --> 00:01:52,160 Speaker 1: They would raise money to contribute to the people who 32 00:01:52,240 --> 00:01:54,920 Speaker 1: ran the underground railroad so that they could pay bribes 33 00:01:54,960 --> 00:01:57,920 Speaker 1: to people who might squeal. And the reason that squealing 34 00:01:58,000 --> 00:01:59,920 Speaker 1: was such a big deal was because of something called 35 00:02:00,040 --> 00:02:03,000 Speaker 1: fugitive slave acts. That's right. And to give you some context, 36 00:02:03,160 --> 00:02:06,000 Speaker 1: if you go back to the Constitution, as we all know, 37 00:02:06,360 --> 00:02:08,320 Speaker 1: much of the Constitution was a compromise when it came 38 00:02:08,320 --> 00:02:10,160 Speaker 1: to when it came to slavery, because the North and 39 00:02:10,200 --> 00:02:12,360 Speaker 1: the South disagreed about it, um. But in order to 40 00:02:12,360 --> 00:02:14,360 Speaker 1: make a union, they had to they had to compromise, 41 00:02:14,400 --> 00:02:16,840 Speaker 1: and so they had this clause where they said fugitives 42 00:02:16,880 --> 00:02:21,680 Speaker 1: of labor who escaped into a different state had to 43 00:02:21,680 --> 00:02:25,200 Speaker 1: be returned. And although the Constitution didn't really say how 44 00:02:25,240 --> 00:02:27,680 Speaker 1: to enforce this, it did say that needed to happen, 45 00:02:27,880 --> 00:02:29,799 Speaker 1: and so uh. A few years later they had the 46 00:02:29,840 --> 00:02:33,480 Speaker 1: Fugitive Slave Act of seventeen ninety three, which basically made 47 00:02:33,480 --> 00:02:37,079 Speaker 1: it a federal crime to assist escape slaves. Uh. And 48 00:02:37,360 --> 00:02:40,400 Speaker 1: it was still relatively murky even after this act because 49 00:02:40,400 --> 00:02:42,360 Speaker 1: it left it up to the local courts to decide 50 00:02:42,360 --> 00:02:45,120 Speaker 1: how to enforce it, and so there were basically loopholes 51 00:02:45,160 --> 00:02:51,560 Speaker 1: that both abolitionists and pro slavery um authorities took advantage of. 52 00:02:51,800 --> 00:02:54,359 Speaker 1: And so in eighteen fifty it was reinforced. All these 53 00:02:54,400 --> 00:02:57,720 Speaker 1: divisions sent into place high fines for people who aided 54 00:02:57,760 --> 00:03:02,200 Speaker 1: and abetted fugitive slaves. And also these people could receive 55 00:03:02,280 --> 00:03:06,200 Speaker 1: present time, they could even be executed, and any black 56 00:03:06,280 --> 00:03:09,200 Speaker 1: person living in the North could actually be sought after 57 00:03:09,440 --> 00:03:12,359 Speaker 1: and said to be a slave, even if that were untrue. 58 00:03:12,600 --> 00:03:14,600 Speaker 1: That's ready to go back to the South. Yeah, it 59 00:03:14,639 --> 00:03:17,840 Speaker 1: made it very easy for for slave hunters, basically bounty 60 00:03:17,919 --> 00:03:22,760 Speaker 1: hunters too to lure um free black children for instance, 61 00:03:22,880 --> 00:03:25,760 Speaker 1: and to bring them into slavery. And it's a horrific 62 00:03:26,000 --> 00:03:29,639 Speaker 1: uh situation that happened. It was actually the Fusiitive Slave 63 00:03:29,680 --> 00:03:32,320 Speaker 1: Act of eighteen fifty was part of another compromise, if 64 00:03:32,360 --> 00:03:34,520 Speaker 1: you ever heard the Compromise of eighteen fifty. And in 65 00:03:34,600 --> 00:03:38,560 Speaker 1: return for this uh this given conceding to the South, 66 00:03:39,160 --> 00:03:42,000 Speaker 1: they let California in as a free state. Um. But 67 00:03:42,080 --> 00:03:44,880 Speaker 1: what's interesting about this law, I think is that it 68 00:03:44,920 --> 00:03:49,520 Speaker 1: basically legislated a bribe where magistrates were given fees of 69 00:03:50,080 --> 00:03:53,680 Speaker 1: five dollars if they if they stopped a slave hunter 70 00:03:53,760 --> 00:03:56,400 Speaker 1: from bringing back a slave, but the fee got raised 71 00:03:56,400 --> 00:03:58,600 Speaker 1: to ten dollars if they allowed the slave hunter to 72 00:03:58,600 --> 00:04:02,000 Speaker 1: take the slave away. And so ultimately, the North responded 73 00:04:02,080 --> 00:04:04,400 Speaker 1: to the Fugitive Slave Act, and they were visions by 74 00:04:04,400 --> 00:04:08,000 Speaker 1: saying that slavery was being pushed upon them even though 75 00:04:08,000 --> 00:04:10,280 Speaker 1: it was something that they did not condone. In the North. 76 00:04:10,320 --> 00:04:12,600 Speaker 1: There was an institution that the majority of the North 77 00:04:12,880 --> 00:04:16,200 Speaker 1: frowned upon. But because people who wanted to speak out 78 00:04:16,200 --> 00:04:19,800 Speaker 1: against slavery had essentially been muzzled, they felt like it 79 00:04:19,880 --> 00:04:22,200 Speaker 1: was time to do something that's right. So even though 80 00:04:22,200 --> 00:04:25,080 Speaker 1: it was much more dangerous after the Act of eighteen fifty, 81 00:04:25,120 --> 00:04:28,320 Speaker 1: it also provoked the anti slavery movement exactly. And if 82 00:04:28,320 --> 00:04:31,160 Speaker 1: you look at the time before eighteen fifty UM, for example, 83 00:04:31,200 --> 00:04:34,200 Speaker 1: the early eighteen hundreds, we see that there are sort 84 00:04:34,240 --> 00:04:37,520 Speaker 1: of a network of kind strangers who would help fugitive 85 00:04:37,560 --> 00:04:40,760 Speaker 1: slaves get to the North. There about fourteen states in 86 00:04:40,800 --> 00:04:44,240 Speaker 1: the North that were safe for fugitive slaves or to Canada, 87 00:04:44,320 --> 00:04:46,599 Speaker 1: which was an even more popular choice because they couldn't 88 00:04:46,640 --> 00:04:49,000 Speaker 1: be touched by the fugitive slave acts there. And then 89 00:04:49,000 --> 00:04:51,039 Speaker 1: by the eighteen twenties there was a little bit more 90 00:04:51,120 --> 00:04:55,719 Speaker 1: organization with anti slavery groups helping to shuttle along the 91 00:04:55,720 --> 00:04:59,039 Speaker 1: fugitive slaves. And by eighteen forty there was almost a 92 00:04:59,040 --> 00:05:02,279 Speaker 1: full underground network there to help, and that was the 93 00:05:02,360 --> 00:05:05,600 Speaker 1: underground railroad, that's right. And it was largely unprecedented, I 94 00:05:05,600 --> 00:05:08,520 Speaker 1: mean it was based. It was completely unprecedented because obviously 95 00:05:08,720 --> 00:05:12,440 Speaker 1: the slaves have existed throughout history and there have been 96 00:05:12,560 --> 00:05:14,440 Speaker 1: um like even ancient room, they had problems with run 97 00:05:14,880 --> 00:05:18,159 Speaker 1: run away slaves, but never before had there been such 98 00:05:18,200 --> 00:05:20,800 Speaker 1: a sophisticated network for helping them escape and that's what 99 00:05:20,839 --> 00:05:23,280 Speaker 1: makes the underground railroad so special. And what's wow do 100 00:05:23,320 --> 00:05:25,720 Speaker 1: is that it really spread by word of mouth. And 101 00:05:25,880 --> 00:05:28,400 Speaker 1: we said before it had to be secretive, you know, 102 00:05:28,480 --> 00:05:30,640 Speaker 1: by its by its sole existence. That was the only 103 00:05:30,640 --> 00:05:34,240 Speaker 1: way it could survive. And we should go over the 104 00:05:34,680 --> 00:05:37,440 Speaker 1: terms or the terminology for the underground railroad, and I 105 00:05:37,480 --> 00:05:39,640 Speaker 1: think that that will help you understand why even though 106 00:05:39,640 --> 00:05:42,000 Speaker 1: it was neither underground nor railroad, it was called the 107 00:05:42,080 --> 00:05:45,799 Speaker 1: underground railroad. So there roots of escape that the fugitive 108 00:05:45,839 --> 00:05:49,119 Speaker 1: slaves would follow were called lines like of anound road line. 109 00:05:49,400 --> 00:05:52,039 Speaker 1: And then the different pit stops or safe places or 110 00:05:52,120 --> 00:05:54,919 Speaker 1: you know, high out that they would visit were called stations. 111 00:05:55,360 --> 00:05:58,160 Speaker 1: The people who volunteered and helped the slaves along we're 112 00:05:58,160 --> 00:06:01,840 Speaker 1: called conductors, and a few sitives themselves were called packages 113 00:06:02,279 --> 00:06:06,160 Speaker 1: or freight. And historical records are unclear about how many 114 00:06:06,200 --> 00:06:09,080 Speaker 1: slaves actually made it through the underground railroad. There are 115 00:06:09,120 --> 00:06:11,359 Speaker 1: some very low estimates that put that number at around 116 00:06:11,360 --> 00:06:14,400 Speaker 1: two thousand. Some are more generous, saying about forty thousand, 117 00:06:14,720 --> 00:06:19,400 Speaker 1: others say a couple hundred thousand. But no matter what, um, 118 00:06:19,480 --> 00:06:21,159 Speaker 1: we know for sure that Ohio was one of the 119 00:06:21,200 --> 00:06:24,480 Speaker 1: most active states, and that the most success stories come 120 00:06:24,480 --> 00:06:27,600 Speaker 1: from the border states like Maryland, Kentucky, and Virginia, and 121 00:06:27,600 --> 00:06:29,719 Speaker 1: that if you were in the Deep South you neither 122 00:06:30,040 --> 00:06:32,000 Speaker 1: had a chance at all of getting up to the north, 123 00:06:32,080 --> 00:06:34,919 Speaker 1: or if you did, you were incredibly lucky, or you 124 00:06:35,200 --> 00:06:39,440 Speaker 1: escaped to Spanish controlled territories like Florida or Mexico. That's right. 125 00:06:39,440 --> 00:06:41,039 Speaker 1: And if you were lucky and you made it to 126 00:06:41,120 --> 00:06:44,000 Speaker 1: one of the northern states, often they would have vigilance 127 00:06:44,040 --> 00:06:46,600 Speaker 1: committees there that would basically help you start a new life, 128 00:06:46,640 --> 00:06:49,560 Speaker 1: that would get you a shelter work and protect you 129 00:06:49,640 --> 00:06:52,839 Speaker 1: from slave hunters. So there was hope and it was 130 00:06:52,880 --> 00:06:57,200 Speaker 1: obviously a risk worth undertaking, especially when the underground railroad 131 00:06:57,320 --> 00:07:00,400 Speaker 1: was more established. At the beginning, you primarily saw a 132 00:07:00,480 --> 00:07:03,200 Speaker 1: single men going through on their own, and then as 133 00:07:03,320 --> 00:07:07,240 Speaker 1: more confidence was instilled in the underground railroad, uh more 134 00:07:07,320 --> 00:07:10,920 Speaker 1: passengers would come through and even sometimes families. And that 135 00:07:11,040 --> 00:07:13,520 Speaker 1: was what was so tricky about the underground railroad was 136 00:07:13,600 --> 00:07:17,480 Speaker 1: that someone would be commissioned by either a newly freed 137 00:07:17,560 --> 00:07:21,960 Speaker 1: slave or an abolitionist, and as commissioned field agent would 138 00:07:21,960 --> 00:07:24,640 Speaker 1: go down to different plantations to make contact with the 139 00:07:24,760 --> 00:07:27,880 Speaker 1: slave and he might pose as a doctor or a 140 00:07:27,960 --> 00:07:30,920 Speaker 1: census taker, and it would take a while to get 141 00:07:30,920 --> 00:07:34,440 Speaker 1: the slaves trust. That's right. It was difficult because obviously 142 00:07:34,480 --> 00:07:38,440 Speaker 1: slaves were skeptical of people helping them, like maybe they 143 00:07:38,440 --> 00:07:40,600 Speaker 1: were just learning them away to get you know, a 144 00:07:40,640 --> 00:07:43,520 Speaker 1: bounty on them. Uh, So they often would only trust 145 00:07:43,840 --> 00:07:47,920 Speaker 1: other African Americans or um. They eventually started trusting Quakers 146 00:07:48,400 --> 00:07:51,440 Speaker 1: UM as well because they were more recognizable and they 147 00:07:51,480 --> 00:07:54,200 Speaker 1: were known for being anti slavery. Right, So, once the 148 00:07:54,240 --> 00:07:57,320 Speaker 1: field agent had gained the slaves trust, he would help 149 00:07:57,360 --> 00:08:00,400 Speaker 1: convey him to a conductor, and the conductor would help 150 00:08:00,400 --> 00:08:02,680 Speaker 1: the slave on the first leg of the journey to 151 00:08:02,760 --> 00:08:05,360 Speaker 1: the very first station, and in the safe house, and 152 00:08:05,400 --> 00:08:08,520 Speaker 1: they're a station master would feed and clothe the slave 153 00:08:08,880 --> 00:08:11,800 Speaker 1: and prepare the slave for the next leg of his journey. 154 00:08:12,080 --> 00:08:15,720 Speaker 1: And oftentimes the station masters would equip slaves with disguises. 155 00:08:15,760 --> 00:08:18,640 Speaker 1: It was not uncommon at all for a male slave 156 00:08:18,920 --> 00:08:20,960 Speaker 1: to be disguised as a female. I think you even 157 00:08:21,080 --> 00:08:23,320 Speaker 1: seen an instance of this, and Harriet Beecher stairs Uncle 158 00:08:23,360 --> 00:08:25,120 Speaker 1: Tom's cabin. It's been a while since I've read it, 159 00:08:25,120 --> 00:08:27,120 Speaker 1: but I'm pretty sure there is an instance of that occurring, 160 00:08:27,680 --> 00:08:31,400 Speaker 1: and um, there's one famous case of a black slave 161 00:08:31,480 --> 00:08:34,760 Speaker 1: woman being disguised as a white woman and even being 162 00:08:34,920 --> 00:08:37,920 Speaker 1: given a white baby to use as a very convincing 163 00:08:38,000 --> 00:08:40,320 Speaker 1: prop that's right. And there are places you can go 164 00:08:40,360 --> 00:08:44,840 Speaker 1: do today where these stations were and find hidden passageways 165 00:08:44,960 --> 00:08:48,320 Speaker 1: and hidden hiding places for these slaves, to say, even 166 00:08:48,360 --> 00:08:51,800 Speaker 1: in Pennsylvania, as we mentioned, Pennsylvania was one state that 167 00:08:51,880 --> 00:08:55,240 Speaker 1: wanted to much of it wanted to help slaves escape. 168 00:08:55,240 --> 00:08:58,880 Speaker 1: And so I think there was one station near Getty's Burg, Pennsylvania, 169 00:08:58,880 --> 00:09:00,960 Speaker 1: which you can go and visits now a restaurant, and 170 00:09:01,000 --> 00:09:03,600 Speaker 1: you can go see a hiding place where the bookshelf moves, 171 00:09:03,640 --> 00:09:06,719 Speaker 1: and it's it's wild the lengths that the abolitionists and 172 00:09:06,760 --> 00:09:11,360 Speaker 1: these philanthropists went to to help fugitive slaves. And even 173 00:09:11,360 --> 00:09:13,360 Speaker 1: though there were that many people helping, it was still 174 00:09:13,400 --> 00:09:16,840 Speaker 1: a very very dangerous journey. And uh they would travel 175 00:09:16,880 --> 00:09:20,120 Speaker 1: at night under the cover of darkness, following the North Star, 176 00:09:20,520 --> 00:09:23,240 Speaker 1: and during the daytime the slaves would hide in caves 177 00:09:23,280 --> 00:09:26,120 Speaker 1: and underbrush and thickets and just hope and pray that 178 00:09:26,200 --> 00:09:28,840 Speaker 1: no man stumbled upon them. As written, this was often 179 00:09:28,880 --> 00:09:31,760 Speaker 1: difficult because I don't know if you mentioned this, Candice, 180 00:09:31,800 --> 00:09:35,160 Speaker 1: but the lines, as you mentioned, were often very zig 181 00:09:35,240 --> 00:09:39,640 Speaker 1: zagged in order to throw off slave hunters, and these 182 00:09:39,760 --> 00:09:42,240 Speaker 1: often worked against the slaves sometimes if they if they 183 00:09:42,240 --> 00:09:44,560 Speaker 1: were not able to get a guide, and so they 184 00:09:45,040 --> 00:09:47,400 Speaker 1: would often get lost and it would take them years 185 00:09:47,400 --> 00:09:50,040 Speaker 1: to get out of this railroad. And so we see 186 00:09:50,080 --> 00:09:53,439 Speaker 1: that it was not impossible but very very dangerous to 187 00:09:53,480 --> 00:09:56,000 Speaker 1: do the trip on your own, and if they were 188 00:09:56,040 --> 00:09:58,600 Speaker 1: lucky enough to have a guide like Jane mentioned, you know, 189 00:09:58,640 --> 00:10:01,840 Speaker 1: success was much more guaranteed. And one of the most 190 00:10:01,920 --> 00:10:06,040 Speaker 1: famous guides was Harriet Tubman, that's right, and she herself 191 00:10:06,120 --> 00:10:08,079 Speaker 1: had been a slave and had escaped. She was in 192 00:10:08,400 --> 00:10:10,640 Speaker 1: a slave in Maryland and she had escaped to Pennsylvania, 193 00:10:11,200 --> 00:10:15,080 Speaker 1: and when she returned she had married earlier, a free 194 00:10:15,200 --> 00:10:18,240 Speaker 1: uh black, and when she returned she noticed or she 195 00:10:18,280 --> 00:10:21,000 Speaker 1: found out that her um free husband had married again 196 00:10:21,360 --> 00:10:24,080 Speaker 1: and wasn't willing to go with her, and Tubman took 197 00:10:24,120 --> 00:10:27,640 Speaker 1: members of her family back to Pennsylvania. And one historian 198 00:10:27,800 --> 00:10:31,800 Speaker 1: Fergus M. Borda, which suggests that it was this experience 199 00:10:31,800 --> 00:10:34,120 Speaker 1: where her husband, you know, remarried and didn't want to 200 00:10:34,120 --> 00:10:36,200 Speaker 1: come with her that really hardened her and really made 201 00:10:36,240 --> 00:10:38,880 Speaker 1: her a tough lady. To say the least. She was tough, 202 00:10:39,000 --> 00:10:41,400 Speaker 1: like Jane said, And I think that there's that age 203 00:10:41,440 --> 00:10:44,000 Speaker 1: old scenario where people ask if if you were hiding 204 00:10:44,120 --> 00:10:46,680 Speaker 1: and they were enemies approaching and there was a baby 205 00:10:46,720 --> 00:10:48,160 Speaker 1: in your group and a cried out would would you 206 00:10:48,160 --> 00:10:50,200 Speaker 1: suffocate it? And you know, it's sort of a more 207 00:10:50,360 --> 00:10:53,000 Speaker 1: morality debate and the answer is hard to say, but 208 00:10:53,080 --> 00:10:55,000 Speaker 1: a lot of people would argue yes, to spare the 209 00:10:55,040 --> 00:10:56,880 Speaker 1: lives of the group, you would let one person go. 210 00:10:57,200 --> 00:11:00,040 Speaker 1: And I think Tubman really lived by this notion to you, 211 00:11:00,200 --> 00:11:02,560 Speaker 1: and she would often threaten to kill slaves if one 212 00:11:02,600 --> 00:11:04,720 Speaker 1: of them was getting scared and making too much noise. 213 00:11:05,240 --> 00:11:06,679 Speaker 1: You know, it was for the good of the group, 214 00:11:06,720 --> 00:11:09,240 Speaker 1: and it worked because she made about thirteen trips on 215 00:11:09,240 --> 00:11:12,839 Speaker 1: the underground railroad, taking about seventy slaves to either New 216 00:11:12,880 --> 00:11:16,080 Speaker 1: York and Canada. It must have taken some really hard 217 00:11:16,160 --> 00:11:19,760 Speaker 1: nerves to do what she did, so it's good for her. Um. Also, 218 00:11:19,840 --> 00:11:22,280 Speaker 1: you mentioned Harriet Peature still earlier, the author of Uncle 219 00:11:22,320 --> 00:11:26,720 Speaker 1: Tom's Cabin. It's interesting because she is often criticized as 220 00:11:26,760 --> 00:11:29,080 Speaker 1: like never having really been in the South and having 221 00:11:29,200 --> 00:11:32,440 Speaker 1: experienced slavery, but she got her knowledge about slavery through 222 00:11:32,600 --> 00:11:35,760 Speaker 1: her word of mouth contact with Underground Railroad and the 223 00:11:35,800 --> 00:11:38,960 Speaker 1: members of it. And so whether or not still witnessed 224 00:11:39,000 --> 00:11:42,920 Speaker 1: firsthand the perils of the Underground Railroad or saw firsthand 225 00:11:42,960 --> 00:11:46,079 Speaker 1: the atrocities of slavery, I think it's a point because 226 00:11:46,120 --> 00:11:49,640 Speaker 1: the novel really moved people, and it's a very emotional read. 227 00:11:49,679 --> 00:11:52,000 Speaker 1: It's a very long novel, but it will make you cry, 228 00:11:52,080 --> 00:11:54,440 Speaker 1: especially the character of Uncle Tom. I was within tears 229 00:11:54,440 --> 00:11:56,320 Speaker 1: when I finished. But and it made a huge impact 230 00:11:56,320 --> 00:11:57,920 Speaker 1: at the time, so like it was just sort of 231 00:11:57,960 --> 00:12:00,600 Speaker 1: like the ripples of the Underground reil Road had were 232 00:12:00,800 --> 00:12:04,280 Speaker 1: very bad. Yeah, I made a huge emotional appeal. And UM, 233 00:12:04,320 --> 00:12:06,000 Speaker 1: I think one of the saddest stories to come out 234 00:12:06,000 --> 00:12:09,920 Speaker 1: of the Underground Railroad is one that involves Levi Coffin, 235 00:12:10,440 --> 00:12:12,880 Speaker 1: who was um I believe he was a Quaker, and 236 00:12:12,960 --> 00:12:17,160 Speaker 1: he wrote a treatise about his experience with the Underground Railroad, 237 00:12:17,600 --> 00:12:19,840 Speaker 1: and um he mentioned that there was one party of 238 00:12:19,880 --> 00:12:23,679 Speaker 1: twenty eight that came through from Kentucky and there was 239 00:12:23,720 --> 00:12:26,680 Speaker 1: a baby and the group and they got to a 240 00:12:26,679 --> 00:12:28,640 Speaker 1: certain place and they had to stop and they were 241 00:12:28,679 --> 00:12:32,920 Speaker 1: hiding in the thicket, and Levi Coffin arranged for abolitionists 242 00:12:32,960 --> 00:12:35,880 Speaker 1: in the community to bring them clothes and choose because 243 00:12:35,880 --> 00:12:39,920 Speaker 1: it was incredibly cold, hot coffee and food, and everyone 244 00:12:40,000 --> 00:12:42,200 Speaker 1: was wondering, how are we going to convey this huge 245 00:12:42,240 --> 00:12:45,640 Speaker 1: group of people through to the next station, and Coffin 246 00:12:45,720 --> 00:12:47,400 Speaker 1: came up with the idea that they should all act 247 00:12:47,480 --> 00:12:50,120 Speaker 1: like they're in a funeral procession and just walk very 248 00:12:50,160 --> 00:12:53,559 Speaker 1: solemnly and slowly along the road, and no one questioned them, 249 00:12:53,679 --> 00:12:56,600 Speaker 1: and it worked. But when they arrived at the next 250 00:12:56,600 --> 00:12:59,600 Speaker 1: safe house, they realized it wasn't just to pretend funeral 251 00:12:59,600 --> 00:13:02,839 Speaker 1: process and the baby had actually died from malnutrition in 252 00:13:02,880 --> 00:13:07,439 Speaker 1: the cold, So it's an actual, real feneral procession story. 253 00:13:07,520 --> 00:13:10,240 Speaker 1: It's very sad, and I think that there are so 254 00:13:10,280 --> 00:13:12,720 Speaker 1: many accountless more like that, and send many legends about 255 00:13:12,720 --> 00:13:15,120 Speaker 1: the Underground Railroad than we may never know are true. 256 00:13:15,160 --> 00:13:18,720 Speaker 1: We we hear stories about quilt patterns being secret codes 257 00:13:18,800 --> 00:13:20,680 Speaker 1: to slaves, whether or not a house was saved, or 258 00:13:20,679 --> 00:13:23,439 Speaker 1: that there was a bounty hunter on the lookout, And 259 00:13:23,640 --> 00:13:26,680 Speaker 1: there are so many stories like this about the Underground Railroad. 260 00:13:26,760 --> 00:13:28,720 Speaker 1: So we would urge you guys to hear. Check out 261 00:13:28,760 --> 00:13:31,720 Speaker 1: the article on the Underground Railroad, as well as information 262 00:13:31,760 --> 00:13:35,080 Speaker 1: on historical figures like Harriet Tubman on how stuff works 263 00:13:35,120 --> 00:13:39,000 Speaker 1: dot com for more on this and thousands of other topics. 264 00:13:39,080 --> 00:13:42,200 Speaker 1: Doesn't how stuff works dot com. Let us know what 265 00:13:42,280 --> 00:13:45,400 Speaker 1: you think. Send an email to podcast at how stuff 266 00:13:45,400 --> 00:13:52,400 Speaker 1: works dot com.