The Underground Railroad was a system of secret paths and safe places that helped enslaved people escape to free states in the North and to Canada during the time when slavery was legal in the United States. Some enslaved people tried to escape on their own as early as the 16th century. However, a network of safe houses, known as the Underground Railroad, began to form in the 1780s when groups in the North who opposed slavery started organizing help. This network expanded northward and grew stronger until President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863. Most escapees aimed to reach free states, and some later traveled to Canada.

The Underground Railroad started at the places where enslaved people lived. Escape routes used natural and man-made paths, such as rivers, canals, bays, the Atlantic Coast, ferries, roads, and trails. Many escapes happened near ports, free territories, and international borders.

The network was mainly run by free and enslaved African Americans, with help from people who supported the cause of ending slavery. Enslaved people who escaped and those who helped them were called "passengers" and "conductors," respectively. Some routes led to Mexico, where slavery was already banned, and to Caribbean islands that did not take part in the slave trade. Another route existed from the late 17th century until about 1790, leading south toward Florida, which was controlled by Spain at the time. During the American Civil War, some people seeking freedom escaped to Union lines in the South to gain their freedom. One estimate suggests that by 1850, about 100,000 enslaved people had escaped through the network. According to J. Blaine Hudson, a former professor of Pan-African studies and dean at the University of Louisville, by the end of the Civil War, 500,000 or more African Americans had freed themselves from slavery using the Underground Railroad.

Origin of the name

Eric Foner wrote that the term "underground railroad" may have first appeared in a Washington newspaper in 1839, when it quoted a young enslaved person who hoped to escape slavery using a railroad that "went underground all the way to Boston." Dr. Robert Clemens Smedley wrote that after slave catchers failed to find runaway enslaved people as far north as Columbia, Pennsylvania, they said in confusion, "there must be an underground railroad somewhere," which led to the term being used. Scott Shane wrote that the first known use of the term was in an article by Thomas Smallwood published on August 10, 1842, in Tocsin of Liberty, an abolitionist newspaper from Albany. He also wrote that a book from 1879, Sketches in the History of the Underground Railroad, mentioned the phrase was used in an 1839 Washington newspaper article. The book's author later said he had tried to remember the article as accurately as possible 40 years after reading it.

Terminology

Members of the Underground Railroad used special words that compared their work to a railway system. For example:

The Big Dipper, which has a part called the "bowl" that points to the North Star, was sometimes called the "drinking gourd." The Railroad was often referred to as the "freedom train" or "Gospel train," which traveled toward "Heaven" or "the Promised Land," meaning Canada.

Political background

Many escaped slaves who traveled through the Underground Railroad saw Canada as their final destination. Between 30,000 and 40,000 of them settled there, with about half arriving between 1850 and 1860. Others moved to free states in the North. Thousands of legal cases involving escaped slaves were recorded from the Revolutionary War to the Civil War. The Fugitive Slave Act of 1793 required officials in free states to help slaveholders or their agents recapture escaped slaves. However, some state laws prevented this. The law made it easier for slaveholders and slave catchers to capture African Americans and return them to slavery. In some cases, it allowed them to enslave free African Americans. This law also encouraged abolitionists to help enslaved people, leading to the growth of anti-slavery groups and the Underground Railroad.

After the Mexican–American War, Southern politicians pushed for the Compromise of 1850. This agreement included a stricter Fugitive Slave Law, which forced officials in free states to help slave catchers. The law allowed slave catchers to operate in free states with little proof needed to claim someone was a fugitive. Because of this, many free African Americans, including children, were kidnapped and sold into slavery. Southern politicians often claimed that escaped slaves were increasing because Northerners were interfering with Southern property rights. The law prevented people accused of being slaves from defending themselves in court, making it hard to prove they were free. Some Northern states passed laws called "personal liberty laws" to stop public officials from capturing or imprisoning former slaves. The belief that Northern states ignored fugitive slave laws became a major reason given for the South’s decision to leave the Union.

Routes and methods of escape

The Underground Railroad routes led north to free states and Canada, to the Caribbean, to the United States western territories, and to Indian territories. Some escaped enslaved people traveled south into Mexico to find freedom. Many fled by sea, including Ona Judge, who had been enslaved by President George Washington. Some historians believe that waterways in the South were important paths to freedom because they provided escape routes. Historians also found 200,000 runaway slave advertisements in North American newspapers between the middle of the 1700s and the end of the American Civil War. Enslaved people in Alabama hid on steamboats heading to Mobile, Alabama, to blend in with the city's free Black community. They also hid on other steamboats traveling northward to free territories and states. In 1852, Alabama lawmakers passed a law to stop more enslaved people from escaping on boats. The law fined slaveholders and boat captains if they allowed enslaved people on board without a pass. Enslaved people in Alabama also made canoes to escape. Some freedom seekers left the United States through Panama on boats heading to California. Slaveholders also used the Panama route to reach California. In Panama, slavery was illegal, and Black Panamanians helped enslaved people from the United States escape to the city of Panama. To avoid being tracked by slave catchers' bloodhounds, freedom seekers used methods like mixing hot pepper, lard, and vinegar on their shoes. In North Carolina, some escapees used turpentine on their shoes to hide their scent. In Texas, others used paste made from a charred bullfrog. Some runaways hid in swamps to wash away their scent. Most escapes happened at night, when darkness helped them stay hidden. To avoid capture, freedom seekers carried forged free passes. Free Black people showed proof of their freedom by carrying passes. Enslaved people and free Black people created fake passes to help freedom seekers travel through slave states.

North to free states and Canada

The Underground Railroad was not literally underground or a railroad. The first actual underground railroad was not built until 1863. John Rankin explained that the name came from the fact that people who used it disappeared from public view, as if they had gone into the ground. Once enslaved people reached a station on the Underground Railroad, no one could find them again. They were passed secretly from one station to another until they reached a place where they could live freely. The term "railroad" was used because it described the transportation system of that time, which included terms like "stations" and "conductors."

The Underground Railroad had no central headquarters or official leaders. There were no published maps, guides, or newspaper articles about it. Instead, it relied on secret meeting places, hidden paths, and safe homes, all managed by people who opposed slavery. These individuals shared information through word of mouth, though some may have used a code to send messages. Most participants worked in small, independent groups to keep their activities secret. Enslaved people traveled north from one safe house to another. "Conductors" who helped them came from many backgrounds, including free Black people, white abolitionists, formerly enslaved individuals, and Native Americans. Many religious groups, such as Quakers, Congregationalists, and Wesleyan Methodists, also supported the effort because they believed slavery was against Christian values. Free Black people played a vital role in helping enslaved individuals reach freedom. Groups of helpers worked together in organizations called vigilance committees.

Free Black communities in states like Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York helped people escape slavery. Black churches and homes in the North served as stations on the Underground Railroad, providing shelter for those fleeing. Historian Cheryl Janifer Laroche wrote that Black people, both enslaved and free, were the main actors in the Underground Railroad. She noted that some historians focus too much on white abolitionists and overlook the important work of free Black communities. Another historian, Diane Miller, pointed out that traditional stories often describe the Underground Railroad as a movement led by white religious groups, such as Quakers, to help "helpless" enslaved people. However, historian Larry Gara argued that many stories about the Underground Railroad belong more to folklore than history. He suggested that the achievements of real people like Harriet Tubman, Thomas Garrett, and Levi Coffin were exaggerated, and that the focus on Northern abolitionists downplays the intelligence and independence of enslaved Black people who escaped on their own.

Geography

The Underground Railroad was helped a lot by the geography of the U.S.–Canada border. States like Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and most of New York were separated from Canada by water, which made it easier and safer to move people across. The main path for freedom seekers from the South went up the Appalachian Mountains, through Harpers Ferry, and into the Western Reserve region of northeastern Ohio. From there, they traveled to the shore of Lake Erie and crossed into Canada by boat. Some freedom seekers used other routes, such as through New York or New England, passing through cities like Syracuse (where Samuel May lived) and Rochester, New York (where Frederick Douglass lived). They crossed the Niagara River or Lake Ontario into Canada. By 1848, the Niagara Falls Suspension Bridge was built. It connected New York to Canada and was used by enslaved people to escape. Harriet Tubman also used the bridge to help others reach freedom. Other freedom seekers traveled through the New York Adirondacks, sometimes through Black communities like Timbuctoo, New York, and entered Canada via Ogdensburg on the St. Lawrence River or Lake Champlain (with help from Joshua Young). A western route, used by John Brown, led from Missouri to free Kansas and Iowa, then east through Chicago to the Detroit River.

Thomas Downing was a free Black man in New York who ran an oyster restaurant that served as a stop on the Underground Railroad. Freedom seekers (runaway enslaved people) hid in the basement of his restaurant. Enslaved people helped others escape slavery. Arnold Gragstone was enslaved and guided runaways across the Ohio River to freedom.

William Still, sometimes called "The Father of the Underground Railroad," helped hundreds of enslaved people escape, sometimes as many as 60 a month. He sometimes hid them in his home in Philadelphia. He kept detailed records, including short stories about the people, using words that sounded like train terms. He also helped communicate between escaped people and those still enslaved. He later wrote a book called The Underground Railroad: Authentic Narratives and First-Hand Accounts (1872), which helped historians learn about the Underground Railroad and the ways people escaped.

According to Still, messages were often hidden in code so only people involved in the Underground Railroad could understand them. For example, the message "I have sent via at two o'clock four large hams and two small hams" meant four adults and two children were sent by train from Harrisburg to Philadelphia. The word "via" meant they traveled through Reading, Pennsylvania, instead of the usual route. This tricked authorities into looking at the wrong train station, while Still met the runaways at the correct station and guided them to safety. They then escaped further north or to Canada, where slavery had been abolished in the 1830s.

To stay safe, many people on the Underground Railroad only knew their specific role in the operation. "Conductors" helped move "passengers" from one station to another. Sometimes, a conductor pretended to be enslaved to enter a plantation and lead runaways to the North. Enslaved people traveled at night, about 10–20 miles (16–32 km) to each station. They rested and then sent a message to the next station to let the station master know they were coming. During the day, they stayed at "stations" or "depots," which were safe places to rest. These stations were often in basements, barns, churches, or caves.

The places where freedom seekers could rest and eat were called "stations" and "depots," and were managed by "station masters." "Stockholders" gave money or supplies to help. Enslaved people used Bible references to describe Canada as the "Promised Land" or "Heaven" and the Ohio River, which divided slave and free states, as the "River Jordan."

Traveling conditions

Although some freedom seekers traveled by boat or train, most walked or used wagons. They sometimes lay down, covered with hay or similar materials, in small groups of one to three people. Some groups were much larger. Abolitionist Charles Turner Torrey and his helpers rented horses and wagons to transport up to 15 or 20 people at a time. Free and enslaved Black men who worked as sailors helped enslaved people escape by offering rides on ships, sharing information about safe escape routes, and identifying safe places on land and trusted people who could help. Enslaved African-American sailors also shared news about slave revolts in the Caribbean with enslaved people in American ports. Free and enslaved African-American sailors helped Harriet Tubman during her rescue missions by giving her information about escape routes and assisting her directly. In New Bedford, Massachusetts, freedom seekers hid on ships leaving the docks with the help of Black and white crew members, hiding in the ships' cargo as they traveled to freedom.

Enslaved people living near rivers used boats and canoes to escape. In 1855, Mary Meachum, a free Black woman, tried to help eight or nine enslaved people cross the Mississippi River near St. Louis, Missouri, to the free state of Illinois. White antislavery activists and an African American guide named "Freeman" helped with the escape. However, the plan failed because police and slave catchers learned about it and were waiting on the Illinois side. Mary Meachum, her husband John, and others were arrested. Before this attempt, Mary Meachum and her husband had worked on the Underground Railroad, helping enslaved people cross the Mississippi River to freedom.

Escape routes were often indirect to avoid being followed. Most escapes involved individuals or small groups, though some large escapes occurred, such as the Pearl incident. The journey was especially hard for women and children. Children sometimes struggled to stay quiet or keep up with a group. Enslaved women were rarely allowed to leave plantations, making it harder for them to escape as men could. Despite these challenges, some women succeeded. Harriet Tubman, one of the most famous conductors, helped many enslaved people escape slavery.

Because of the danger of being discovered, information about escape routes and safe places was shared by word of mouth. In 1896, a numerical code was used to hide messages. Southern newspapers often published pages of notices offering rewards for capturing runaway slaves. Federal marshals and professional slave catchers pursued freedom seekers as far as the Canada–U.S. border.

Freedom seekers foraged, fished, and hunted for food during their journey. They made one-pot meals, a cooking method from West Africa. Enslaved and free Black people left food outside their homes to help freedom seekers. These meals became part of the food traditions known as soul food among Black Americans.

Maroons

Most freedom seekers who escaped slavery did not receive help from abolitionists. Even though some stories exist about black and white abolitionists assisting freedom seekers, many escapes happened without outside help.

Other escape routes used by freedom seekers included maroon communities. These were hidden areas, such as wetlands or marshes, where escaped slaves created their own independent communities. Examples in the United States include the Black Seminole communities in Florida, groups in the Great Dismal Swamp in Virginia, and others in the Okefenokee Swamp in Georgia and Florida. In the 1780s, a maroon community existed in the bayous of Saint Malo, Louisiana. The leader of this community was Jean Saint Malo, a freedom seeker who lived among other runaways in the swamps. The community had about fifty people, but the Spanish colonial government ended it. Jean Saint Malo was executed on June 19, 1784.

In colonial South Carolina, maroon settlements were found in marshland areas of the Lowcountry and near rivers. Maroons fought to keep their freedom and avoid enslavement in several places, including Ashepoo in 1816, Williamsburg County in 1819, Georgetown in 1820, Jacksonborough in 1822, and near Marion in 1861. Historian Herbert Aptheker found evidence that fifty maroon communities existed in the United States between 1672 and 1864. The history of maroons shows how enslaved people resisted enslavement by creating free, independent settlements.

Historical archaeologist Dan Sayer says that some historians do not give enough attention to the importance of maroon communities and instead focus more on the role of white people in the Underground Railroad. He believes this shows a racial bias and a reluctance to recognize the strength of black resistance and initiative.

Freedom routes into Native American lands

From colonial times into the 1800s, Indigenous peoples in North America helped enslaved Africans escape slavery and find freedom. However, some Indigenous groups did not support freedom seekers, and a few even enslaved them or sent them back to their enslavers. The earliest records of enslaved people escaping date to the 1500s. In 1526, Spanish settlers built the first European colony in the continental United States in South Carolina, called San Miguel de Gualdape. Enslaved Africans there rebelled and may have fled to Shakori Indigenous communities. By 1689, enslaved people in the South Carolina Lowcountry region escaped to Spanish Florida to find freedom. The Seminole Nation welcomed Gullah runaways (now called Black Seminoles) into their lands. This route, part of the Underground Railroad, connected Georgia and the Carolinas to Florida through Seminole Indian territory. In Northwest Ohio during the 1700s and 1800s, the Shawnee, Ottawa, and Wyandot nations helped freedom seekers escape slavery. The Ottawa protected runaways in their villages and sent some to Fort Malden. In Upper Sandusky, the Wyandot allowed a maroon community of freedom seekers, called Negro Town, to live on their land for 40 years.

In the 1700s and 1800s, the Nanticoke people in the Chesapeake Bay and Delaware regions hid freedom seekers in their villages. The Nanticoke lived near the Pocomoke River, which begins in the Great Cypress Swamp in southern Sussex County, Delaware. Enslaved people escaping slavery could hide in swamps, where water helped wash away their scent, making it harder for dogs to track them. Mixed-blood communities formed as early as the 1700s. In Maryland, freedom seekers fled to Shawnee villages along the Potomac River. Slaveholders in Virginia and Maryland filed many complaints and legal petitions against the Shawnee and Nanticoke for hiding freedom seekers. The Odawa also accepted runaways and sent them to the Ojibwe, who escorted them to Canada. Some escaped enslaved people remained in Native American communities. White settlers in Kentucky and the Ohio Territory saw "Black Shawnees" living with Indigenous people in the trans-Appalachian west. During the colonial period in New Spain and in the Seminole Nation in Florida, African Americans and Indigenous people formed marriages.

South to Florida and Mexico

Beginning in the 16th century, Spanish people brought enslaved Africans to New Spain, including a mission called Nombre de Dios, which later became the city of St. Augustine in Spanish Florida. Over time, some free people of African and Spanish descent worked in different jobs and served in the colonial military. After King Charles II of Spain declared Spanish Florida a safe place for escaped slaves from British North America, many enslaved people fled to Florida from as far north as New York. In 1738, the Spanish built Fort Mose near St. Augustine to provide a home for free Black people.

In 1806, enslaved people arrived at the Stone Fort in Nacogdoches, Texas, seeking freedom. They had a forged passport from a judge in Kentucky. The Spanish did not return them to the United States. More enslaved people traveled through Texas the next year.

Enslaved people in the United States could gain freedom by crossing the border into Mexico, which was still a Spanish colony until the 19th century. In the United States, enslaved people were treated as property, meaning they could not choose to marry or live with their families. They also could not refuse harsh or unfair punishment. In New Spain, runaway slaves were treated as people. They could join the Catholic Church, marry, and were protected from harsh or unfair treatment.

During the War of 1812, U.S. Army general Andrew Jackson invaded Spanish Florida because enslaved people had escaped from plantations in the Carolinas and Georgia to live in Florida. Some of these runaways joined the Black Seminoles, who later moved to Mexico. However, Mexico’s position on slavery was unclear. At times, Mexico allowed enslaved people to be returned to slavery and allowed Americans to settle in Spanish lands to grow cotton, bringing enslaved people to work the fields.

In 1829, Mexican president Vicente Guerrero, who was of mixed race heritage, officially ended slavery in Mexico. Enslaved people from Southern plantations in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas fled to Mexico. At that time, Texas was part of Mexico. The Texas Revolution, partly started to support slavery, led to the creation of the Republic of Texas in 1836. After the Battle of San Jacinto, some enslaved people left the Houston area with the Mexican army, seeing the soldiers as a way to escape slavery. When Texas joined the United States in 1845, it was a slave state, and the Rio Grande became the border between the United States and Mexico.

Tensions grew between free and slave states as Mexico abolished slavery and more western states joined the United States as free states. As more free states were added, the influence of slave state leaders in Congress decreased.

The Southern Underground Railroad operated in slave states, but it lacked the organized groups and support systems found in the North. People who opposed slavery faced threats, violence, and even being hanged. Slave catchers searched for runaway enslaved people. There were very few free Black people in Texas, so they often felt unsafe. The path to freedom in the South was informal, unpredictable, and dangerous.

During the Mexican–American War in the 1840s, U.S. military forts along the Rio Grande border captured and returned fleeing enslaved people to their owners.

The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 made it illegal to help enslaved people escape in free states. The United States government also tried to make a treaty with Mexico to capture and return escaped slaves. Mexico continued to allow enslaved people who crossed its border to remain free. However, slave catchers still crossed into Mexico to illegally capture Black people and return them to slavery. A group of slave hunters became known as the Texas Rangers.

Routes

Many people seeking freedom traveled through a network from the southern United States to Texas and then to Mexico. Enslaved individuals often walked or rode horses across difficult and dangerous areas while being chased by law enforcement and slave hunters. Some hid on ferries traveling from New Orleans, Louisiana, and Galveston, Texas, to Mexican ports. Others carried cotton on wagons to Brownsville, Texas, and then crossed into Mexico near Matamoros.

Some people tried to persuade others to run north to gain freedom, but many laughed at the idea.

Many escaped through states such as North Carolina, Arkansas, Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi toward Texas and eventually Mexico. Some fled slavery from the Indian Territory, which is now Oklahoma. Black Seminoles traveled from Florida through southwestern routes into Mexico.

Traveling overland required crossing the Nueces Strip, a region between the Nueces River and the Rio Grande. This area had very hot weather, little shade, and no drinking water. People trying to escape were more likely to survive if they had a horse and a gun.

In 2010, the National Park Service identified a route from Natchitoches, Louisiana, to Monclova, Mexico, which is believed to follow the southern path of the Underground Railroad. El Camino Real de los Tejas is also thought to have been used by freedom seekers. President George W. Bush designated El Camino Real de los Tejas as a National Historic Trail in 2004.

Assistance

Some people traveled alone without help, while others received support from people along the southern Underground Railroad. This support included help with directions, shelter, and supplies.

Black people, couples of different races, and German immigrants who opposed slavery helped enslaved people. However, most of the support came from Mexican workers. Because of this, enslavers began to distrust Mexicans, and a law was passed in Texas that stopped Mexicans from speaking to enslaved people. Mexican workers who worked with enslaved people formed relationships with them. They gave advice about crossing the border and showed understanding. When enslavers and townspeople in Texas found out that Mexicans were helping enslaved people escape, they forced some people out of town, whipped them publicly, or lynched them.

Some border officials helped enslaved people cross into Mexico. In Monclova, Mexico, a border official collected money from townspeople to help a family get food, clothing, and money to continue their journey south and avoid slave hunters. After crossing the border, some Mexican officials protected former enslaved people from being sent back to the United States by slave hunters.

People seeking freedom who traveled by ferry to Mexican ports received help from Mexican ship captains. One captain was caught in Louisiana and charged with helping enslaved people escape.

People knew the dangers of running away or helping others escape, so they tried to hide their activities. Because of this, there are few records about escaped slaves. However, there are more records from people who supported slavery or tried to catch escaped slaves. The Texas Runaway Slave Project at Stephen F. Austin State University has documented more than 2,500 escapes.

Southern freedom seekers

Advertisements were published in newspapers offering rewards for the return of their "property." Slave catchers moved through Mexico. Black Seminoles, or Los Mascogos, lived in northern Mexico and fought back with weapons.

Sam Houston, president of the Republic of Texas, owned a slave named Tom who escaped. Tom traveled to Texas and joined the Mexican military after arriving there.

One enslaved man was marked with the letter "R" on both sides of his face after trying to escape slavery. He tried again in the winter of 1819, leaving his enslaver's cotton plantation on horseback. With four others, he traveled southwest to Mexico, facing dangers such as attacks by Native Americans, capture by slave catchers, or threats from "horse-eating alligators."

Many people did not reach Mexico safely. In 1842, a Mexican man and an enslaved Black woman left Jackson County, Texas on two horses. They were caught at the Lavaca River. The woman, who was valuable to her owner, was returned to slavery. Her husband, who may have been a farm worker or indentured servant, was killed quickly by a mob.

Fugitive slaves in Mexico changed their names, married into Mexican families, and moved farther south across the American-Mexican border. These actions make it difficult to track where formerly enslaved people lived. A database at Stephen F. Austin State University keeps records of runaway slave advertisements as part of The Texas Runaway Slave Project. During the Great Depression, the Works Progress Administration started the Federal Writers' Project to collect stories from enslaved people, including those who settled in Mexico. One person who found freedom was Felix Haywood, who crossed the Rio Grande.

Rio Grande stations

Two families, the Webbers and the Jacksons, lived near the Rio Grande and helped people escape slavery. The husbands were white men, and the wives were Black women who had once been enslaved. It is not known if Nathaniel Jackson bought the freedom of Matilda Hicks and her family, but in the early 1860s, they moved to Hidalgo County, where they settled and lived together. Nathaniel was a white man from the South, and Matilda was a formerly enslaved woman. They had been childhood friends in Alabama. Nathaniel was the son of Matilda’s former enslaver, who helped seven families and others cross into Mexico in 1857.

Silvia Hector Webber was born enslaved in West Florida. In 1819, she was sold to a slaveholder in Clark County, Arkansas. The slaveholder’s son, John Cryer, brought Silvia to Mexican Texas in 1828, even though Mexico had made the slave trade illegal in its territory four years earlier. Silvia, with the help of John Webber, obtained freedom papers for herself and her three children in 1834. Silvia and John lived in an antislavery way and often helped escaped slaves find shelter in their home and ranch. Silvia used a ferry she had a license for at her ranch to help freedom seekers cross into Mexico.

John Ferdinand Webber, born in Vermont, lived along the Rio Grande with his wife, Silvia Hector Webber. Together, they helped enslaved people cross the Rio Grande. The Jacksons and Webbers both owned licensed ferry services and were well known for helping runaways escape slavery.

Arrival in Mexico

Black freedom seekers who arrived in Mexico faced uncertain futures because of Mexican immigration rules. The law required that anyone entering the country and wanting to live there must get a visa. Formerly enslaved Africans could not obtain a visa because the application needed papers from their home country. Although the visa rule made it harder for them to live legally in Mexico and increased the chance of being caught by slave catchers until 1857, when the rule was removed, joining groups like the Mexican military, becoming godparents to Mexican children, or marrying into Mexican families gave them a special legal status that the Mexican government officially accepted.

Mexican people also helped formerly enslaved Africans by offering them "hospitality" and protecting them from being captured again. In one example, officials and civilians in Piedras Negras, Mexico, refused to follow fugitive slave laws and "expelled" American slave catchers who tried to recapture freed Africans. When formerly enslaved Africans were at risk of being deported or caught, Mexican people supported them and fought for their right to stay in Mexico. In most cases, formerly enslaved Africans were recognized as citizens by the Mexican government, which allowed them to remain in the country.

Colonies

Abolitionists from the North asked the Mexican government to create communities for free and runaway Black people. Benjamin Lundy, a Quaker, tried to get a community started in what is now Texas in the early 1830s. However, Texas allowed slavery after it became the Republic of Texas in 1836, so his plan did not work. Black Seminoles successfully asked for land and created a community in 1852. Their descendants still own this land today.

The Texas Runaway Slave Project, based at Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, has studied advertisements about runaway slaves from 19,000 newspaper editions in the mid-1800s. Alice L. Baumgartner has researched how many people escaped slavery in the Southern states to go to Mexico. She wrote a book titled South to Freedom: Runaway Slaves to Mexico and the Road to the Civil War. Thomas Mareite wrote a doctoral dissertation at Leiden University about the lives of enslaved people who fled to Mexico. His work is titled Conditional Freedom: Free Soil and Fugitive Slaves from the U.S. South to Mexico's Northeast, 1803–1861. Roseann Bacha-Garza, from the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, has led projects to study historical artifacts and researched how many enslaved people fled to Mexico. Mekala Audain wrote a chapter titled "A Scheme to Desert: The Louisiana Purchase and Freedom Seekers in the Louisiana-Texas Borderlands, 1804–1806" in a book about African American internationalism. Maria Esther Hammack completed a doctoral dissertation on this topic in 2021 at the University of Texas at Austin.

"Reverse Underground Railroad"

Freedom seekers were not the only Black people in danger from slave catchers. In the Deep South, where cotton farming needed many workers, strong and healthy Black people of working and childbearing age were considered very valuable. Both people who had once been enslaved and free Black individuals were sometimes kidnapped and forced into slavery. For example, Solomon Northup, a free Black man from New York, was kidnapped by Southern slavers while visiting Washington, DC. "Certificates of freedom," also called "free papers," were official documents signed and notarized to prove that a Black person was free. However, these papers could be easily destroyed or stolen, so they did not offer much protection. Some buildings, like the Crenshaw House in far-southeastern Illinois, are known places where free Black people were sold into slavery. These locations are referred to as the "Reverse Underground Railroad."

American Revolutionary War routes (1775 to 1783)

During the American Revolutionary War, many enslaved people escaped from their owners and sought refuge with British forces, in Canada, Florida, and Native American lands. Lord Dunmore, the last Royal Governor of Virginia, aimed to weaken American colonists by issuing a proclamation in 1775. This proclamation promised freedom to enslaved people who fled their American masters and joined the British. A PBS and National Park Service article states that this led to about 100,000 enslaved people fleeing during the war. American colonial officers received many requests to return escaped enslaved individuals. In November 1775, Dunmore formed a military unit of 300 freedom seekers in North Carolina called "the Ethiopian Regiment." In Virginia, 800 freedom seekers joined this group. To stop enslaved people from joining the British, American colonists used slave patrols to capture runaways and published newspapers and editorials claiming the British would not honor their promise of freedom. Thousands of free and enslaved Black people fought with the British in hopes of gaining freedom. These individuals were called Black Loyalists. Black Loyalists who served with the British for one year received Certificates of Freedom and were relocated to British Caribbean colonies, such as the Bahamas and Jamaica, or sent north to Canada. Between 1783 and 1785, 3,000 enslaved and free Black Americans moved to the British colony of Nova Scotia, Canada. Some enslaved people also fled to join the Continental Army or Patriot militias. Black Americans who fought in the Continental Army were called Black Patriots, and some earned their freedom through military service. Some enslaved runaways used their enslaver's horse to escape during the war.

War of 1812 routes

During the War of 1812, 700 enslaved people in Maryland escaped from slavery. Before the war, freedom seekers traveled to the Michigan Territory by crossing the Detroit River. Over time, more African Americans escaped to the territory. The territorial governor, William Hull, gave Peter Denison, an enslaved man, a written license to form a militia group made up of free Black people and escaped slaves. These men were trained and armed, but Hull later dissolved the group. Some Black men in the militia escaped to British Canada. In the 18th century, slavery existed in Canada, but by 1793, it was ended. However, some Black Canadians remained enslaved. During the late 18th and early 19th centuries, freedom seekers traveled south from British Canada to reach free American territories in the Old Northwest. By the time of the War of 1812, slave laws in British Canada made slavery illegal. This change caused freedom seekers in the United States to look north to Canada for freedom. In the summer of 1812, Hull declared that enslaved runaways and free Black people in the Michigan Territory were free citizens. When war began with Britain, Black citizens in Michigan were armed to fight against the British. After his military service, Peter Denison and his family left Michigan and moved north to Canada.

Black Refugees

In April 1814, the British Army offered freedom to enslaved Black Americans who joined the British military or chose to live in British colonies. In the Chesapeake Region of Virginia and Maryland and along the coasts of Georgia, about 4,000 enslaved Black Americans escaped slavery. Of these 4,000 people seeking freedom, 2,000 traveled to Nova Scotia between September 1813 and August 1816 by naval ships and private boats arranged by the British. These individuals were taken to Nova Scotia and New Brunswick in Canada. Additionally, 400 people seeking freedom were sent to Trinidad in the Caribbean. The Black individuals who settled in British Canada are referred to as Black refugees, as they escaped slavery in the United States and supported the British during the War of 1812.

Merikens

The Merikins were once enslaved Black Americans who escaped slavery and joined the British military's all-Black unit called the Colonial Marines during the War of 1812. After the war ended, they were sent to many British colonies to live as free people. Around 700 of these soldiers were taken to Trinidad in the Caribbean. Even though slavery was allowed in Trinidad, they were protected by commander Robert Mitchell. These formerly enslaved Americans named themselves Merikens, which means "a shortened version of 'Americans,'" and began new lives in Trinidad. They lived in six Company Villages in the southern part of the island. The Trinidadian government gave them food, supplies, clothing, and tools to build homes. They also grew their own food, including corn, pumpkin, plantain, and rice.

The "Saltwater Railroad" freedom route

From 1821 to 1861, people who were enslaved in the Southeastern slave states of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida traveled to the Bahamas using a secret route called the "Saltwater Railroad." Before 1821, Florida was a Spanish colony known as Spanish Florida. Under Spanish laws, enslaved people who escaped were declared free. However, in 1821, Florida came under the control of the United States. Free Black people in Florida worried they might be re-enslaved under American laws, so many left for the Bahamas. Between 1821 and 1825, the Southern beaches of Florida were a safe place for freedom seekers to board boats heading to the island. Some freedom seekers built their own canoes and boats to sail to the Bahamas without help.

By 1825, the construction of the Cape Florida Lighthouse (in what is now Miami-Dade County) made it harder for enslaved people to escape at night. The bright light helped sailors navigate the Florida Reef but also made it easier for others to see escaping people. The Bahamas attracted freedom seekers because it had a community of Black Seminoles and other escapees. The Bahamas was a British-controlled island where Black people could own land, attend school, and legally marry. In 1825, Britain declared that anyone who reached British-controlled lands was free. This rule encouraged more enslaved people in the United States to flee to the Bahamas. By the 1830s, historians estimate that at least 6,000 freedom seekers reached the Bahamas. By the 1840s, the Bahamas had more enslaved runaways than any other British colony in the Caribbean. Britain’s efforts to free enslaved Americans caused tensions with the United States. In 1841, a slave revolt occurred on the ship Creole. The Creole left Virginia with over 100 enslaved people heading to New Orleans, Louisiana. The enslaved people took control of the ship and sailed it to Nassau in the Bahamas. This event gained international attention, and the escapees were later released.

Fugitive Slave Act of 1850

The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 stated that if people suspected of escaping slavery were captured, they were taken to a special judge called a commissioner. These individuals did not have the right to a trial with a jury, and they could not speak for themselves in court. Between 1850 and 1860, 343 people who had escaped slavery were brought before commissioners. Of these, 332 were sent back to slavery. Commissioners were paid $10 if they ruled in favor of a slaveholder and $5 if they ruled in favor of an escaped person. Technically, the escaped individuals were not accused of a crime. A law officer or private slave catcher only needed to swear an oath to get a legal order called a writ of replevin, which allowed them to return someone they claimed was property. People who helped escaped slaves face a fine of $1,000.

Southern lawmakers had more influence in Congress because their states had larger population counts due to the way enslaved people were counted in the census. Southern lawmakers passed the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 because they were frustrated that people in the North, including officials, sometimes helped escaped slaves. In some Northern areas, slave catchers required police protection to carry out their work.

According to author Andrew Delbanco, "Northerners began to understand that slavery was not just a Southern issue after the 1850 law was passed." Before the Civil War, the nation was divided about how to handle enslaved people who fled. The Fugitive Slave Act made the nation even more divided because Southern slaveholders gained the power to return escaped people to the South, and Northerners were legally required to help return them.

Some escaped slaves, including Anthony Burns, John Price, Shadrach Minkins, Stephen Pembroke, and his two sons, were arrested under the law. Abolitionists used these cases to highlight the issue of slavery in national politics. They argued that enslaved people’s efforts to escape showed that slavery should be abolished.

A few weeks after the law was passed, Black populations in Northern cities decreased because many African Americans moved to Canada to avoid being captured and sent back to slavery. On August 1, 1834, Britain abolished slavery in Canada and across its empire, making Canada a safer place for escaped slaves and free African Americans. In Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, many Black hotel workers left for Canada. The Black population in Columbia, Pennsylvania, dropped by half. Between mid-February and early March 1851, about 100 free African Americans and escaped slaves left Boston. Abolitionists in Detroit, Michigan, helped 1,200 people move to Canada. By December 1850, it is estimated that 3,000 African Americans had found refuge in Canada.

American Civil War routes (1861 to 1865)

During the American Civil War, the Union Army captured Southern towns in Beaufort, South Carolina, St. Simons Island, Georgia, and other areas and set up camps. Because of this, enslaved people on nearby plantations escaped slavery and ran to Union lines for freedom and to join the Union Army. American historian Eric Foner explains in his book, Gateway to Freedom: The Hidden History of the Underground Railroad, that: "…the Civil War fundamentally transformed the opportunities available for slaves seeking freedom. As soon as federal troops, which in Maryland meant the very beginning of the war, slaves sought refuge with the Union…"

Susie King Taylor was born enslaved in Liberty County, Georgia, and escaped slavery with her family to Union lines in St. Catherine's Island, Georgia, with the help of her uncle, who placed her on a federal gunboat near Confederate-held Fort Pulaski. In addition, thousands of enslaved Black Americans escaped slavery and fled to Union lines in the South Carolina Sea Islands. In 1861, Jarvis Harvey escaped slavery and sailed to Union lines at Fortress Monroe, Virginia. Robert Sutton was born enslaved in Alberti Plantation along Florida's northeastern boundary with Georgia, and during the Civil War, he escaped slavery by making a canoe and sailed to Port Royal, South Carolina, where Black Americans were freed after the Battle of Port Royal and joined the 1st South Carolina Volunteer Infantry Regiment. Prince Rivers escaped slavery and found freedom in Union lines in Port Royal, South Carolina, after his enslaver fled Beaufort upon the arrival of the Union Navy and Army. Rivers later joined the 1st South Carolina Volunteer Infantry Regiment. On May 12, 1862, Robert Smalls and sixteen enslaved people escaped slavery during the Civil War on a Confederate ship and sailed it out of Charleston Harbor to a Union blockade in South Carolina.

Underground Railroad agents changed their escape plans around Union encampments because many freedom seekers escaped to Union-occupied territories instead of the North. For example, the Kansas territory became a state in 1861, and slavery was banned in the state. During the Civil War, abolitionists, free staters, and Jayhawkers helped emancipate enslaved people who escaped from Missouri (a slave state that bordered Kansas) and brought them to Kansas as contraband of war. An article from the National Park Service explains how the Civil War changed escape routes and final destinations for freedom seekers: "But, no sooner had Union troops appeared in the border states, on the islands off the Atlantic coast, and in the lower Mississippi Valley, than thousands of blacks took the opportunity to liberate themselves by going to Union camps. A first effort to send them back to their masters was soon abandoned. The runaways became 'contraband,' or confiscated property of war. Many of them quickly found work within the Union lines and members of their families began to join them."

The word "contraband" was given to enslaved runaways by Union General Benjamin Butler. In 1861, three enslaved men in Norfolk, Virginia—Shepard Mallory, Frank Baker, and James Townsend—escaped slavery and fled to Union lines at Fort Monroe. Butler refused to follow the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850, which required the return of escaped slaves to their enslavers. Instead, Butler kept the three men because they were "property" of the Confederate States, not the United States, where the Fugitive Slave Act was passed and enforced. An article from the National Trust for Historical Preservation explains: "…Butler realized the absurdity of honoring the Fugitive Slave Law, which dictated that he return the three runaways to their owner. They had been helping to construct a Confederate battery that threatened his fort. Why send them back and bolster that effort? So the general struck upon a politically expedient solution: Because Virginia had seceded from the Union, he argued, he no longer had a constitutional obligation to return the runaways. Rather, in keeping with military law governing war between nations, he would seize the three runaways as contraband—property to be used by the enemy against the Union."

As the Civil War continued, areas of the South and border states became refugee camps for freedom seekers. Washington, D.C., was a large refugee area during the war. On April 16, 1862, Congress passed the Compensated Emancipation Act, which ended slavery in the District of Columbia. After this law was passed, freedom seekers from Virginia and Maryland escaped and found freedom in Washington, D.C. By 1863, there were 10,000 refugees (former runaway slaves) in the city, and their numbers doubled the Black population in Washington, D.C. During the war, enslaved people living near Beaufort County, South Carolina, escaped slavery and fled to Union lines in Beaufort because African Americans in the county were freed after the Battle of Port Royal on November 7, 1861, when plantation owners fled the area after the arrival of the Union Navy and Army. Because of this, a refugee camp was started to provide safety and protection to freedom seekers. At first, there were sixty to seventy runaways, but the numbers grew to 320. The Union Army did not have enough food or clothing to care for them. Free men, women, and children in Beaufort's refugee camp were paid to work for the Union as cooks, laundresses, servants, and carpenters. Union forces occupied Corinth, Mississippi, and enslaved people from nearby plantations escaped to Union lines. To accommodate freedom seekers, General Grenville M. Dodge established the Corinth Contraband Camp, which included homes, schools, hospitals, churches, and paid employment for African Americans. It was estimated that the Corinth Contraband Camp provided a new life for 6,000 former slaves.

Union Navy and Emancipation

During the Civil War, Gideon Welles was the Secretary of the Navy. In September 1861, Welles announced that enslaved and free African Americans could join the Union Navy at the lowest rank of "Boy." Union ships in Southern ports received many escaped slaves who traveled to Union-controlled areas using small boats. Benjamin Gould wrote in his journal that by September 22, 1862, eight escaped slaves had arrived on the USS Cambridge, and 20 more arrived two weeks later. One of the escaped slaves listed was William Gould, who later joined the Union Navy and fought against the Confederacy from 1862 to 1865. The Union ship USS Hartford helped free enslaved people while traveling up the Mississippi River. Bartholomew Diggins, who worked on the ship, remembered that enslaved people often used small boats to reach Union ships wherever they stopped. Other Union ships that helped free enslaved people included the USS Essex and USS Iroquois. Some Union soldiers and sailors returned escaped slaves to their enslavers. By the end of the war, 179,000 formerly enslaved and free Black Americans had joined the Union Army, and 21,000 had joined the Union Navy.

From the American Revolutionary War, through the War of 1812, and the American Civil War, the Underground Railroad helped hundreds and sometimes thousands of African Americans escape slavery.

Legal and political

When tensions between the North and South led to the Civil War, many Black people, both enslaved and free, joined the Union Army. After the Union won the Civil War, on December 6, 1865, the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution was passed. This amendment banned slavery, except as a punishment for a crime. After the amendment was passed, in some cases, the Underground Railroad worked in the opposite direction, as people who had escaped to Canada returned to the United States.

Frederick Douglass was a writer and speaker who had escaped slavery. In his first autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave (1845), he wrote about the attention given to the supposedly secret Underground Railroad. He stated that while he respected the movement, he believed that publicizing its activities made slave owners more cautious and made it harder for future enslaved people to escape.

Arrival in Canada

British North America (now Canada) was a popular place for escaped enslaved people because of its long border, which provided many ways to enter the country. It was also far from slave catchers and beyond the reach of the United States' Fugitive Slave Acts. Slavery ended in Canada many years before it did in the United States. Britain officially banned slavery in present-day Canada and most British colonies in 1833, though slavery had already largely ended in Canada by the early 1800s due to court decisions that helped enslaved people gain freedom.

Many escaped enslaved people traveled by boat across Lake Erie and Lake Ontario to settle in Ontario. During the peak of the Underground Railroad, it is estimated that more than 30,000 people reached Canada through this network, though U.S. census records only account for about 6,000. Stories of many fugitives are recorded in the 1872 book The Underground Railroad Records by William Still, an abolitionist who led the Philadelphia Vigilance Committee.

Estimates suggest that at least 30,000 enslaved people, and possibly more than 100,000, escaped to Canada via the Underground Railroad. Most settled in Upper Canada (now Ontario), called Canada West from 1841. Black communities formed in Southern Ontario, often in the area around Niagara Falls, Toronto, and Windsor. Several rural villages in Kent and Essex counties in Ontario were mostly made up of people who had been freed from slavery.

Fort Malden, located in Amherstburg, Ontario, was considered the main entry point for escaped enslaved people seeking freedom in Canada. Abolitionist Levi Coffin, who helped over 2,000 fugitives, supported this view. He described Fort Malden as "the great landing place" of the Underground Railroad. After 1850, about thirty people crossed to Fort Malden by steamboat daily. The ship Sultana made frequent trips between Great Lakes ports, and its captain, C.W. Appleby, helped transport fugitives to Fort Malden. William Wells Brown, who had escaped slavery, also aided fugitives. He worked on a Lake Erie steamer and transported many from Cleveland to Ontario via Buffalo or Detroit. He noted that many fugitives traveled to Canada through Cleveland because he offered free passage.

Another important destination was Nova Scotia, which was first settled by Black Loyalists during the American Revolution and later by Black Refugees during the War of 1812. Black communities also formed in Lower Canada (now Quebec) and on Vancouver Island, where Governor James Douglas encouraged Black immigration due to his opposition to slavery. He hoped a strong Black community would help prevent the island from joining the United States.

Life in Canada was not always easy for freedom seekers. Though they were no longer at risk of being captured by slave catchers, they faced widespread racial discrimination. Many struggled to find jobs because of competition with European immigrants, and racism was common. For example, Saint John, New Brunswick, changed its city charter in 1785 to prevent Black Loyalists from working, selling goods, fishing, or becoming freemen. These rules remained in place until 1870.

When the Civil War began in the United States, many Black refugees left Canada to join the Union Army. Some returned to Canada later, but many stayed in the United States. Thousands of others went back to the American South after the war ended. Many hoped to reunite with family and believed that emancipation and Reconstruction would bring positive changes.

Folklore

Since the 1980s, some people have claimed that quilt patterns were used by enslaved people to send messages about escape routes and help. Supporters of this idea say that ten specific quilt designs were used to tell enslaved people what actions to take. These quilts were placed one at a time on fences as a way to communicate without speaking. The code had two meanings: first, to warn enslaved people that it was time to prepare to escape, and second, to give them clues and directions during their journey.

However, many historians and scholars disagree with this theory. The first written record of this idea came from an oral history in 1999, and the theory itself was first introduced in a 1980 children’s book. Experts who study quilts and life in America before the Civil War (1820–1860) say there is no proof that a quilt code existed. Historians like Pat Cummings and Barbara Brackman have questioned the idea, and Underground Railroad historian Giles Wright has written a pamphlet that explains why the quilt code is unlikely to be true.

Some nonacademic sources also say that songs like “Steal Away” or “Follow the Drinking Gourd” contained hidden messages that helped enslaved people find their way to freedom. However, these claims are not supported by strong evidence. Experts believe that while these songs expressed hope for freedom, they did not provide direct instructions for escaping slavery.

The Underground Railroad influenced many cultural works. For example, a song called “Song of the Free,” written in 1860, told the story of a man escaping slavery in Tennessee and traveling to Canada. Each part of the song ended with a reference to Canada as the place “where colored men are free.” Slavery in Upper Canada (now Ontario) was banned in 1793. In 1819, John Robinson, the Attorney General of Upper Canada, said that Black people living in Canada were free and that Canadian courts would protect their rights. Slavery in Canada was declining after a court ruling in 1803 and was officially abolished in 1834.

National Underground Railroad Network

In 1990, a law was passed requiring the National Park Service to study the Underground Railroad. In 1997, the 105th Congress introduced and passed H.R. 1635, the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom Act of 1998. President Bill Clinton signed this law into effect in 1998. This law allowed the National Park Service to create the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom program. The program’s goal was to find and protect important sites linked to the Underground Railroad, as well as share the stories of people involved in it. The National Park Service has chosen many sites for the network, shared stories about people and places, held an essay contest, and organized a national conference about the Underground Railroad each May or June.

The Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Historical Park, which includes Underground Railroad routes in three counties on Maryland’s Eastern Shore and Harriet Tubman’s birthplace, was created by President Barack Obama under the Antiquities Act on March 25, 2013. Its sister park, the Harriet Tubman National Historical Park in Auburn, New York, was established on January 10, 2017. This park focuses on the later years of Harriet Tubman’s life and her work with the Underground Railroad and the movement to end slavery.

International Underground Railroad Month

The month of September is named International Underground Railroad Month because it is when Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass escaped slavery.

In popular culture

• The Underground Railroad is a 2016 book written by Colson Whitehead. It received the 2016 National Book Award and the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
• The Underground Railroad is a 2021 television series that can be watched online. It is based on Whitehead’s book.
• Underground is an American television series that began in 2016 on WGN America.

• David Walker (1829) Appeal to the Coloured Citizens of the World
• Harriet Beecher Stowe (1852) Uncle Tom’s Cabin
• Caroline Lee Hentz (1854) The Planter’s Northern Bride
• William M. Mitchell (1860) The Under-Ground Railroad
• Sarah Hopkins Bradford (1869) Scenes in the Life of Harriet Tubman; (1896) Harriet Tubman, Moses of Her People
• Barbara Smucker (1977) Underground to Canada

Underground Railroad was a company started by Tupac Shakur, Big D the Impossible, Shock G, Pee Wee, Jeremy, Raw Fusion, and Live Squad. Its goal was to help young Black men and women create music records and grow their music careers.

In Big Jim and the White Boy, David F. Walker and Marcus Kwame Anderson’s upcoming graphic novel based on Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Big Jim and Huck become Underground Railroad workers. They travel through the United States during the Civil War to rescue Big Jim’s enslaved family.