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94-697: Since 1997 the estate is home to the Slave Haven Underground Railroad Museum . It is understood by some that The Burkle Estate may have served as a way station on the Underground Railroad for runaway slaves. Publicly, Mr. Burkle was a livestock trader and a baker . Privately, some state that he was a conductor on the Underground Railroad. Many believe his home was the last stop in a series of Memphis homes connected by tunnels. The house included

188-510: A Kellett Fellow ; he received a BA from Oriel College in 1965, where he was a member of the college's 1966 University Challenge winning team, though he did not appear in the final, having already returned to the US. After graduating from Oxford, Foner returned to Columbia where he earned his doctoral degree in 1969 under the supervision of Richard Hofstadter . His doctoral thesis, published in 1970 as Free Soil, Free Labor, Free Men: The Ideology of

282-611: A Mexican port from New Orleans , Louisiana and Galveston, Texas . There were some who transported cotton to Brownsville, Texas on wagons and then crossed into Mexico at Matamoros . Sometimes someone would come 'long and try to get us to run up north and be free. We used to laugh at that. —Former slave Felix Haywood, interviewed in 1937 for the federal Slave Narrative Project. Many traveled through North Carolina, Arkansas, Alabama, Louisiana, or Mississippi toward Texas and ultimately Mexico. People fled slavery from Indian Territory (now Oklahoma). Black Seminoles traveled on

376-500: A charred bullfrog. Other runaways escaped into the swamps to wash off their scent. Most escapes occurred at night when the runaways could hide under the cover of darkness. Another method freedom seekers used to prevent capture was carrying forged free passes. During slavery, free Blacks showed proof of their freedom by carrying a pass that proved they were free. Free Blacks and enslaved people created forged free passes for freedom seekers as they traveled through slave states. Despite

470-540: A destination where they were able to remain free." It was known as a railroad, using rail terminology such as stations and conductors, because that was the transportation system in use at the time. The Underground Railroad did not have a headquarters or governing body, nor were there published guides, maps, pamphlets, or even newspaper articles. It consisted of meeting points, secret routes, transportation, and safe houses , all of them maintained by abolitionist sympathizers and communicated by word of mouth , although there

564-701: A forged passport from a Kentucky judge. The Spanish refused to return them back to the United States. More freedom seekers traveled through Texas the following year. Enslaved people were emancipated by crossing the border from the United States into Mexico, which was a Spanish colony into the nineteenth century. In the United States, enslaved people were considered property. That meant that they did not have rights to marry and they could be sold away from their partners. They also did not have rights to fight inhumane and cruel punishment. In New Spain , fugitive slaves were recognized as humans. They were allowed to join

658-604: A former slave, were agents on the Underground Railroad and helped other slaves escape from slavery crossing the Mississippi River. Routes were often purposely indirect to confuse pursuers. Most escapes were by individuals or small groups; occasionally, there were mass escapes, such as with the Pearl incident . The journey was often considered particularly difficult and dangerous for women or children. Children were sometimes hard to keep quiet or were unable to keep up with

752-411: A group. In addition, enslaved women were rarely allowed to leave the plantation, making it harder for them to escape in the same ways that men could. Although escaping was harder for women, some women were successful. One of the most famous and successful conductors (people who secretly traveled into slave states to rescue those seeking freedom) was Harriet Tubman , a woman who escaped slavery. Due to

846-437: A high school art teacher, and historian Jack D. Foner , who was active in the trade union movement and the campaign for civil rights for African Americans. Eric Foner describes his father as his "first great teacher", and recalls how, deprived of his livelihood while I was growing up, he supported our family as a freelance lecturer. ... Listening to his lectures, I came to appreciate how present concerns can be illuminated by

940-547: A message was sent to the next station to let the station master know the escapees were on their way. They would stop at the so-called "stations" or "depots" during the day and rest. The stations were often located in basements, barns, churches, or in hiding places in caves. The resting spots where the freedom seekers could sleep and eat were given the code names "stations" and "depots", which were held by "station masters". "Stockholders" gave money or supplies for assistance. Using biblical references, fugitives referred to Canada as

1034-557: A part of the foodways of Black Americans called soul food . The majority of freedom seekers that escaped from slavery did not have help from an abolitionist. Although there are stories of black and white abolitionists helping freedom seekers escape from slavery, many escapes were unaided. Other Underground Railroad escape routes for freedom seekers were maroon communities . Maroon communities were hidden places, such as wetlands or marshes, where escaped slaves established their own independent communities. Examples of maroon communities in

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1128-584: A route from Natchitoches, Louisiana to Monclova , Mexico in 2010 that is roughly the southern Underground Railroad path. It is also believed that El Camino Real de los Tejas was a path for freedom. It was made a National Historic Trail by President George W. Bush in 2004. Some journeyed on their own without assistance, and others were helped by people along the southern Underground Railroad. Assistance included guidance, directions, shelter, and supplies. Black people, black and white couples, and anti-slavery German immigrants provided support, but most of

1222-540: A small cellar which might have been used to hide escaping slaves. Slaves could then get on boats to take them upriver to other way stations in the free states north of the Ohio River . The role of the home as a part of the Underground Railroad is subject to debate. There is a significant lack of physical, primary evidence suggesting that the Burkle Estate was a part of the Underground Railroad. In response to

1316-616: A southwestern route from Florida into Mexico. Going overland meant that the last 150 miles or so were traversed through the difficult and extremely hot terrain of the Nueces Strip located between the Nueces River and the Rio Grande . There was little shade and a lack of potable water in this brush country. Escapees were more likely to survive the trip if they had a horse and a gun. The National Park Service identified

1410-718: A time. Free and enslaved black men occupied as mariners (sailors) helped enslaved people escape from slavery by providing a ride on their ship, providing information on the safest and best escape routes, and safe locations on land, and locations of trusted people for assistance. Enslaved African-American mariners had information about slave revolts occurring in the Caribbean, and relayed this news to enslaved people they had contact with in American ports. Free and enslaved African-American mariners assisted Harriet Tubman in her rescue missions. Black mariners provided to her information about

1504-425: A way of thinking about the past in which visionaries and underdogs— Tom Paine , Wendell Phillips , Eugene V. Debs , and W. E. B. Du Bois —were as central to the historical drama as presidents and captains of industry, and how a commitment to social justice could infuse one's attitudes towards the past. After graduating from Long Beach High School in 1959, Foner enrolled at Columbia University, where he

1598-505: A whole, the traditional interpretation that dominated historical writing for much of this century has irrevocably been laid to rest. "Foner has established himself as the leading authority on the Reconstruction period," wrote historian Michael Perman in reviewing Reconstruction . "This book is not simply a distillation of the secondary literature; it is a masterly account – broad in scope as well as rich in detail and insight. "This

1692-468: Is also a report of a numeric code used to encrypt messages. Participants generally organized in small, independent groups; this helped to maintain secrecy. People escaping enslavement would move north along the route from one way station to the next. "Conductors" on the railroad came from various backgrounds and included free-born blacks , white abolitionists, the formerly enslaved (either escaped or manumitted ), and Native Americans. Believing that slavery

1786-607: Is history written on a grand scale, a masterful treatment of one of the most complex periods of American history," David Herbert Donald wrote in The New Republic . C. Vann Woodward , in The New York Review of Books , wrote, "Eric Foner has put together this terrible story with greater cogency and power, I believe, than has been brought to the subject heretofore." In a 2009 essay, Foner pondered whether Reconstruction might have turned out differently. It

1880-570: Is told largely from the perspective of blacks and women, especially the former, it is not going to be a pretty tale. Yet most Americans thought of themselves not only as free but as the freest people in the world." John Patrick Diggins of the City University of New York wrote that Foner's Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution, 1863–1877 , was a "magisterial" and "moving" narrative, but compared Foner's "unforgiving" view of America for its racist past to his notably different views on

1974-555: Is wrong to think that, during the Civil War, President Lincoln embraced a single "plan" of Reconstruction. ... Lincoln had always been willing to work closely with all factions of his party, including the Radicals on numerous occasions. I think it is quite plausible to imagine Lincoln and Congress agreeing to a Reconstruction policy encompassing basic civil rights for blacks (as was enacted in 1866) plus limited black suffrage, along

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2068-466: The Canada–U.S. border . Freedom seekers (runaway slaves) foraged, fished, and hunted for food on their journey to freedom on the Underground Railroad. With these ingredients, they prepared one-pot meals (stews), a West African cooking method. Enslaved and free Black people left food outside their front doors to provide nourishment to the freedom seekers. The meals created on the Underground Railroad became

2162-715: The Columbia University Department of History since 1982. He is the author of several popular textbooks, such as the Give Me Liberty series for high school classrooms. According to the Open Syllabus Project , Foner is the most frequently cited author on college syllabi for history courses. According to historian Timothy Snyder , Foner is the first to associate the storming of the Capitol on January 6, 2021 with section three of

2256-536: The Detroit River . Thomas Downing was a free Black man in New York and operated his Oyster restaurant as a stop on the Underground Railroad. Freedom seekers (runaway slaves) escaping slavery and seeking freedom hid in the basement of Downing's restaurant. Enslaved people helped freedom seekers escape from slavery. Arnold Gragstone was enslaved and helped runaways escape from slavery by guiding them across

2350-552: The Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution . Foner has published several books on the Reconstruction period, starting with Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution, 1863–1877 in 1988. His online courses on "The Civil War and Reconstruction", published in 2014, are available from Columbia University on ColumbiaX. In 2011, Foner's The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery (2010) won

2444-675: The Great Cypress Swamp in southern Sussex County, Delaware . African Americans escaping slavery were able to hide in swamps, and the water washed off the scent of enslaved runaways making it difficult for dogs to track their scent. As early as the 18th centuries, mixed blood communities formed. In Maryland , freedom seekers escaped to Shawnee villages located along the Potomac River . Slaveholders in Virginia and Maryland filed numerous complaints and court petitions against

2538-554: The Mexican–American War of the 1840s, captured and returned fleeing enslaved people to their slaveholders. The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 made it a criminal act to aid fleeing escaping enslaved people in free states . Similarly, the United States government wanted to enact a treaty with Mexico so that they would help capture and return bonds-people. Mexico, however, continued their practice to allow anyone that crossed their borders to be free. Slave catchers continued to cross

2632-594: The Mississippi River near St. Louis, Missouri to the free state of Illinois. To assist with the escape were white antislavery activists and an African American guide from Illinois named "Freeman." However, the escape was not successful because word of the escape reached police agents and slave catchers who waited across the river on the Illinois shore. Breckenridge, Burrows and Meachum were arrested. Prior to this escape attempt, Mary Meachum and her husband John,

2726-527: The Ohio River for their freedom. William Still , sometimes called "The Father of the Underground Railroad", helped hundreds of slaves escape (as many as 60 a month), sometimes hiding them in his Philadelphia home. He kept careful records, including short biographies of the people, that contained frequent railway metaphors. He maintained correspondence with many of them, often acting as a middleman in communications between people who had escaped slavery and those left behind. He later published these accounts in

2820-924: The Pulitzer Prize for History , the Lincoln Prize , and the Bancroft Prize . Foner previously won the Bancroft Prize in 1989 for his book Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution - 1863–1877 . In 2000, he was elected president of the American Historical Association . He was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 2018. Foner was born in New York City, New York, the son of Jewish parents, Liza (née Kraitz),

2914-590: The colonial militia . After King Charles II of Spain proclaimed Spanish Florida a safe haven for escaped slaves from British North America, they began escaping to Florida by the hundreds from as far north as New York . The Spanish established Fort Mose for free Blacks in the St. Augustine area in 1738. In 1806, enslaved people arrived at the Stone Fort in Nacogdoches, Texas seeking freedom. They arrived with

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3008-680: The trans-Appalachian west . During the colonial ear in New Spain and in the Seminole Nation in Florida, African Americans and Indigenous marriages occurred. Beginning in the 16th century, Spaniards brought enslaved Africans to New Spain , including Mission Nombre de Dios in what would become the city of St. Augustine in Spanish Florida . Over time, free Afro-Spaniards took up various trades and occupations and served in

3102-526: The " Promised Land " or "Heaven" and the Ohio River , which marked the boundary between slave states and free states , as the " River Jordan ". Although the freedom seekers sometimes traveled on boat or train, they usually traveled on foot or by wagon, sometimes lying down, covered with hay or similar products, in groups of one to three escapees. Some groups were considerably larger. Abolitionist Charles Turner Torrey and his colleagues rented horses and wagons and often transported as many as 15 or 20 people at

3196-415: The "passengers" were not sent on the usual train, but rather via Reading, Pennsylvania . In this case, the authorities were tricked into going to the regular location (station) in an attempt to intercept the runaways, while Still met them at the correct station and guided them to safety. They eventually escaped either further north or to Canada, where slavery had been abolished during the 1830s. To reduce

3290-595: The 16th century and many of their escapes were unaided, but the network of safe houses operated by agents generally known as the Underground Railroad began to organize in the 1780s among Abolitionist Societies in the North . It ran north and grew steadily until the Emancipation Proclamation was signed in 1863 by President Abraham Lincoln . The escapees sought primarily to escape into free states , and from there to Canada. The network, primarily

3384-607: The August 10, 1842, edition of Tocsin of Liberty , an abolitionist newspaper published in Albany. He also wrote that the 1879 book Sketches in the History of the Underground Railroad said the phrase was mentioned in an 1839 Washington newspaper article and that the book's author said 40 years later that he had quoted the article from memory as closely as he could. Members of the Underground Railroad often used specific terms, based on

3478-817: The Catholic Church and marry. They also were protected from inhumane and cruel punishment. During the War of 1812 , U.S. Army general Andrew Jackson invaded Spanish Florida in part because enslaved people had run away from plantations in the Carolinas and Georgia to Florida. Some of the runaways joined the Black Seminoles who later moved to Mexico. However, Mexico sent mixed signals on its position against slavery. Sometimes it allowed enslaved people to be returned to slavery and it allowed Americans to move into Spanish territorial property in order to populate

3572-589: The Mexican military. Eric Foner Eric Foner ( / ˈ f oʊ n ər / ; born February 7, 1943) is an American historian. He writes extensively on American political history , the history of freedom, the early history of the Republican Party , African American biography, the American Civil War , Reconstruction , and historiography , and has been a member of the faculty at

3666-727: The Niagara River and connected New York to Canada. Enslaved runaways used the bridge to escape their bondage, and Harriet Tubman used the bridge to take freedom seekers into Canada. Those traveling via the New York Adirondacks , sometimes via Black communities like Timbuctoo, New York , entered Canada via Ogdensburg , on the St. Lawrence River , or on Lake Champlain ( Joshua Young assisted). The western route, used by John Brown among others, led from Missouri west to free Kansas and north to free Iowa, then east via Chicago to

3760-557: The North hid freedom seekers in their churches and homes. Historian Cheryl Janifer Laroche explained in her book, Free Black Communities and the Underground Railroad The Geography of Resistance that: "Blacks, enslaved and free, operated as the main actors in the central drama that was the Underground Railroad." Laroche further explained how some authors center white abolitionists and white people involved in

3854-580: The North, where the Americans would then establish cotton plantations, bringing enslaved people to work the land. In 1829, Mexican president Vicente Guerrero (who was a mixed race black man) formally abolished slavery in Mexico. Freedom seekers from Southern plantations in the Deep South , particularly from Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas, escaped slavery and headed for Mexico. At that time, Texas

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3948-578: The Ottawa. In Upper Sandusky , Wyandot people allowed a maroon community of freedom seekers in their lands called Negro Town for four decades. In the 18th and 19th centuries in areas around the Chesapeake Bay and Delaware , Nanticoke people hid freedom seekers in their villages. The Nanticoke people lived in small villages near the Pocomoke River ; the river rises in several forks in

4042-681: The Panama route. Slaveholders used the Panama route to reach California. In Panama slavery was illegal and Black Panamanians encouraged enslaved people from the United States to escape into the local city of Panama. Freedom seekers created methods to throw off the slave catchers ' bloodhounds from tracking their scent. One method was using a combination of hot pepper, lard, and vinegar on their shoes. In North Carolina freedom seekers put turpentine on their shoes to prevent slave catchers' dogs from tracking their scents, in Texas escapees used paste made from

4136-830: The Republican Party Before the Civil War , explored the deeply rooted ideals and interests that drove the northern majority to oppose slavery and ultimately wage war against Southern secession. Foner is a leading authority on the Reconstruction Era. In a seminal essay in American Heritage in October 1982, later reprinted in Reviews in American History , Foner wrote, In the past twenty years, no period of American history has been

4230-617: The Shawnee and Nanticoke for hiding freedom seekers in their villages. Odawa people also accepted freedom seekers into their villages. The Odawa transferred the runaways to the Ojibwe who escorted them to Canada. Some enslaved people who escaped slavery and fled to Native American villages stayed in their communities. White pioneers who traveled to Kentucky and the Ohio Territory saw " Black Shawnees " living with Indigenous people in

4324-857: The Soviet Union did not protect minorities while it tried to nationalize the republics. Foner identified a threat to existing minority groups within the Baltic states, who were in turn threatened by the new nationalist movements. In a New York Times op-ed, he criticized President Donald Trump 's tweet calling for the preservation of Confederate monuments and heritage , stating that they represented and glorified white supremacy rather than collective heritage. Foner has made multiple appearance on shows such as The Colbert Report and The Daily Show to discuss US history. Journalist Nat Hentoff described Foner's The Story of American Freedom as "an indispensable book that should be read in every school in

4418-668: The Texas Runaway Slave Project at Stephen F. Austin State University . Advertisements were placed in newspapers offering rewards for the return of their "property". Slave catchers traveled through Mexico. There were Black Seminoles , or Los Mascogos who lived in northern Mexico who provided armed resistance. Sam Houston , president of the Republic of Texas , was the slaveholder to Tom who ran away. He headed to Texas and once there he enlisted in

4512-454: The Underground Railroad would have been dangerous for the Burkle family as it would have revealed their role in the Underground Railroad. A trapdoor, and a hidden staircase inside the Burkle Estate house, which are rather abnormal characteristics of a home, also are used to suggest that the Burkle Estate played a role in the Underground Railroad. The house opened as a museum in 1997 and tours of

4606-400: The United States between 1672 and 1864. The history of maroons showed how the enslaved resisted enslavement by living in free independent settlements. Historical archeologist Dan Sayer says that historians downplay the importance of maroon settlements and place valor in white involvement in the Underground Railroad, which he argues shows a racial bias, indicating a "...reluctance to acknowledge

4700-614: The United States by slave hunters. Freedom seekers that were taken on ferries to Mexican ports were aided by Mexican ship captains, one of whom was caught in Louisiana and indicted for helping enslaved people escape. Knowing the repercussions of running away or being caught helping someone runaway, people were careful to cover their tracks, and public and personal records about fugitive slaves are scarce. In greater supply are records by people who promoted slavery or attempted to catch fugitive slaves. More than 2,500 escapes are documented by

4794-667: The United States include the Black Seminole communities in Florida, as well as groups that lived in the Great Dismal Swamp in Virginia and in the Okefenokee swamp of Georgia and Florida, among others. In the 1780s, Louisiana had a maroon community in the bayous of Saint Malo . The leader of the Saint Malo maroon community was Jean Saint Malo , a freedom seeker who escaped to live among other runaways in

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4888-451: The antislavery movement as the main factors for freedom seekers escapes and overlook the important role of free Black communities. In addition, author Diane Miller states: "Traditionally, historians have overlooked the agency of African Americans in their own quest for freedom by portraying the Underground Railroad as an organized effort by white religious groups, often Quakers, to aid 'helpless' slaves." Historian Larry Gara argues that many of

4982-438: The best escape routes and helped her on her rescue missions. In New Bedford, Massachusetts , freedom seekers stowed away on ships leaving the docks with the assistance of Black and white crewmembers and hid in the ships' cargoes during their journey to freedom. Enslaved people living near rivers escaped on boats and canoes. In 1855, Mary Meachum , a free Black woman, attempted to help eight or nine slaves escape from slavery on

5076-574: The book The Underground Railroad: Authentic Narratives and First-Hand Accounts (1872), a valuable resource for historians to understand how the system worked and learn about individual ingenuity in escapes. According to Still, messages were often encoded so that they could be understood only by those active in the railroad. For example, the following message, "I have sent via at two o'clock four large hams and two small hams", indicated that four adults and two children were sent by train from Harrisburg to Philadelphia. The additional word via indicated that

5170-638: The city's free Black community, and also hid on other steamboats leaving Alabama that were headed further northward into free territories and free states. In 1852, a law was passed by the Alabama legislature to reduce the number of freedom seekers escaping on boats. The law penalized slaveholders and captains of vessels if they allowed enslaved people on board without a pass. Alabama freedom seekers also made canoes to escape. Freedom seekers escaped from their enslavers in Panama on boats heading for California by way of

5264-430: The claim that there is not enough evidence to suggest that the Burkle Estate was in fact a part of the Underground Railroad, Historians from Memphis' public library system proposed a counterargument. The historians suggest that the lack of primary, physical evidence of the Burkle Estate further validates the presumption that the Burkle Estate was a part of the Underground Railroad. This is because keeping physical evidence of

5358-469: The fall of communism and Soviet history. Foner's book Gateway to Freedom: The Hidden History of the Underground Railroad (2015) was judged "Intellectually probing and emotionally resonant" by the Los Angeles Times. His previous book The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery (2010) was described by Library Journal as "In the vast library on Lincoln, Foner's book stands out as

5452-582: The first European colony in the continental United States in South Carolina called San Miguel de Gualdape . The enslaved Africans revolted and historians suggest they escaped to Shakori Indigenous communities. As early as 1689, enslaved Africans fled from the South Carolina Lowcountry to Spanish Florida seeking freedom. The Seminole Nation accepted Gullah runaways (today called Black Seminoles ) into their lands. This

5546-435: The fugitive slave laws and regulations was a major justification offered for secession . Underground Railroad routes went north to free states and Canada, to the Caribbean, to United States western territories, and to Indian territories . Some fugitive slaves traveled south into Mexico for their freedom. Many escaped by sea, including Ona Judge , who had been enslaved by President George Washington . Some historians view

5640-486: The growth of anti-slavery societies and the Underground Railroad. With heavy lobbying by Southern politicians, the Compromise of 1850 was passed by Congress after the Mexican–American War . It included a more stringent Fugitive Slave Law ; ostensibly, the compromise addressed regional problems by compelling officials of free states to assist slave catchers, granting them immunity to operate in free states. Because

5734-513: The help came from Mexican laborers. So much so that enslavers came to distrust any Mexican, and a law was enacted in Texas that forbade Mexicans from talking to enslaved people. Mexican migrant workers developed relationships with enslaved black workers whom they worked with. They offered guidance, such as what it would be like to cross the border, and empathy. Having realized the ways in which Mexicans were helping enslaved people to escape, slaveholders and residents of Texan towns pushed people out of

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5828-409: The help of Northerners to escape. The Underground Railroad benefited greatly from the geography of the U.S.–Canada border: Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and most of New York were separated from Canada by water, over which transport was usually easy to arrange and relatively safe. The main route for freedom seekers from the South led up the Appalachians, Harriet Tubman going via Harpers Ferry , through

5922-425: The highly anti-slavery Western Reserve region of northeastern Ohio to the vast shore of Lake Erie, and then to Canada by boat. A smaller number, traveling by way of New York or New England, went via Syracuse (home of Samuel May ) and Rochester, New York (home of Frederick Douglass ), crossing the Niagara River or Lake Ontario into Canada. By 1848 the Niagara Falls Suspension Bridge had been built—it crossed

6016-410: The international border with Mexico. Pressure between free and slave states deepened as Mexico abolished slavery and western states joined the Union as free states. As more free states were added to the Union, the lesser the influence of slave state representatives in Congress. The Southern Underground Railroad went through slave states, lacking the abolitionist societies and the organized system of

6110-420: The land." "Eric Foner is one of the most prolific, creative, and influential American historians of the past 20 years," according to The Washington Post . His work is "brilliant, important," a reviewer wrote in the Los Angeles Times . In a review of The Story of American Freedom in the New York Review of Books , Theodore Draper disagreed with Foner's conclusions, saying "If the story of American freedom

6204-639: The law required sparse documentation to claim a person was a fugitive, slave catchers also kidnapped free blacks , especially children, and sold them into slavery. Southern politicians often exaggerated the number of escaped slaves and often blamed these escapes on Northerners interfering with Southern property rights. The law deprived people suspected of being slaves of the right to defend themselves in court, making it difficult to prove free status. Some Northern states enacted personal liberty laws that made it illegal for public officials to capture or imprison former slaves. The perception that Northern states ignored

6298-461: The lines he proposed just before his death. ... Foner's recent short summary of his views was published in The New York Times in 2015. As a visiting professor in Moscow in the early 1990s, Foner compared secessionist forces in the USSR with the secession movement in the US in the 1860s. In a February 1991 article, Foner noted that the Baltic states claimed the right to secede because they had been unwillingly annexed. In addition, he believed that

6392-529: The metaphor of the railway. For example: The Big Dipper (whose "bowl" points to the North Star ) was known as the drinkin' gourd . The Railroad was often known as the "freedom train" or "Gospel train", which headed towards "Heaven" or "the Promised Land", i.e., Canada. For the fugitive slaves who "rode" the Underground Railroad, many of them considered Canada their final destination. An estimated 30,000 to 40,000 of them settled in Canada, half of whom came between 1850 and 1860. Others settled in free states in

6486-411: The most sensible and sensitive reading of Lincoln's lifetime involvement with slavery and the most insightful assessment of Lincoln's—and indeed America's—imperative to move toward freedom lest it be lost." In 1989, Foner received the Avery O. Craven Award from the Organization of American Historians . In 1991, Foner received the Great Teacher Award from the Society of Columbia Graduates . In 1995, he

6580-407: The museum. 35°09′57″N 90°02′36″W  /  35.165933°N 90.043323°W  / 35.165933; -90.043323 Underground Railroad The Underground Railroad was used by freedom seekers from slavery in the United States and was generally an organized network of secret routes and safe houses. Enslaved Africans and African Americans escaped from slavery as early as

6674-582: The north. Thousands of court cases for fugitive slaves were recorded between the Revolutionary War and the Civil War . Under the original Fugitive Slave Act of 1793 , officials from free states were required to assist slaveholders or their agents who recaptured fugitives, but some state legislatures prohibited this. The law made it easier for slaveholders and slave catchers to capture African Americans and return them to slavery, and in some cases allowed them to enslave free blacks. It also created an eagerness among abolitionists to help enslaved people, resulting in

6768-478: The north. People who spoke out against slavery were subject to mobs, physical assault, and being hanged. There were slave catchers who looked for runaway slaves. There were never more than a few hundred free blacks in Texas, which meant that free blacks did not feel safe in the state. The network to freedom was informal, random, and dangerous. U.S. military forts, established along the Rio Grande border during

6862-434: The one-story, white clapboard house are available. The house is decorated with 19th-century furnishings and artifacts and served as part of the overall civil rights heritage of Memphis. The museum documents the history of the Underground Railroad and the possible role of the house in that secret escape network. Slavery, slave trade, slave auctions and the everyday life of slaves in the wider Memphis area are also documented in

6956-470: The risk of discovery, information about routes and safe havens was passed along by word of mouth, although in 1896 there is a reference to a numerical code used to encrypt messages. Southern newspapers of the day were often filled with pages of notices soliciting information about fugitive slaves and offering sizable rewards for their capture and return. Federal marshals and professional bounty hunters known as slave catchers pursued freedom seekers as far as

7050-484: The risk of infiltration, many people associated with the Underground Railroad knew only their part of the operation and not of the whole scheme. "Conductors" led or transported the "passengers" from station to station. A conductor sometimes pretended to be enslaved to enter a plantation . Once a part of a plantation, the conductor would direct the runaways to the North. Enslaved people traveled at night, about 10–20 miles (16–32 km) to each station. They rested, and then

7144-531: The slave trade. An earlier escape route running south toward Florida , then a Spanish possession (except 1763–1783), existed from the late 17th century until approximately 1790. During the American Civil War , freedom seekers escaped to Union lines in the South to obtain their freedom. One estimate suggests that, by 1850, approximately 100,000 slaves had escaped to freedom via the network. According to former professor of Pan-African studies, J. Blaine Hudson, who

7238-508: The southern border into Mexico and illegally capture black people and return them to slavery. A group of slave hunters became the Texas Rangers . Thousands of freedom seekers traveled along a network from the southern United States to Texas and ultimately Mexico. Southern enslaved people generally traveled across "unforgiving country" on foot or horseback while pursued by lawmen and slave hunters. Some stowed away on ferries bound for

7332-448: The stories of the Underground Railroad belong in folklore and not history. The actions of real historical figures such as Harriet Tubman, Thomas Garrett , and Levi Coffin are exaggerated, and Northern abolitionists who guided the enslaved to Canada are hailed as the heroes of the Underground Railroad. This narrative minimizes the intelligence and agency of enslaved Black people who liberated themselves, and implies that freedom seekers needed

7426-441: The strength of black resistance and initiative." From colonial America into the 19th century, Indigenous peoples of North America assisted and protected enslaved Africans journey to freedom. However, not all Indigenous communities were accepting of freedom seekers, some of whom they enslaved themselves or returned to their former enslavers. The earliest accounts of escape are from the 16th century. In 1526, Spaniards established

7520-624: The study of the past—how the repression of the McCarthy era recalled the days of the Alien and Sedition Acts , the civil rights movement needed to be viewed in light of the great struggles of black and white abolitionists , and in the brutal suppression of the Philippine insurrection at the turn of the century could be found the antecedents of American intervention in Vietnam . I also imbibed

7614-422: The subject of a more thoroughgoing reevaluation than Reconstruction—the violent, dramatic, and still controversial era following the Civil War. Race relations, politics, social life, and economic change during Reconstruction have all been reinterpreted in the light of changed attitudes toward the place of blacks within American society. If historians have not yet forged a fully satisfying portrait of Reconstruction as

7708-767: The swamps and bayous of Saint Malo. The population of maroons was fifty and the Spanish colonial government broke up the community and on June 19, 1784, Jean Saint Malo was executed. Colonial South Carolina had a number of maroon settlements in its marshland regions in the Lowcountry and near rivers. Maroons in South Carolina fought to maintain their freedom and prevent enslavement in 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

7802-482: The thoroughfare's name, the escape network was neither literally underground nor a railroad. (The first literal underground railroad did not exist until 1863 .) According to John Rankin , "It was so called because they who took passage on it disappeared from public view as really as if they had gone into the ground. After the fugitive slaves entered a depot on that road no trace of them could be found. They were secretly passed from one depot to another until they arrived at

7896-425: The town, whipped them in public, or lynched them. Some border officials helped enslaved people crossing into Mexico. In Monclova , Mexico a border official took up a collection in the town for a family in need of food, clothing, and money to continue on their journey south and out of reach of slave hunters. Once they crossed the border, some Mexican authorities helped former enslaved people from being returned to

7990-615: The waterways of the South as an important component for freedom seekers to escape as water sources were pathways to freedom. In addition, historians of the Underground Railroad found 200,000 runaway slave advertisements in North American newspapers from the middle of the 1700s until the end of the American Civil War. Freedom seekers in Alabama hid on steamboats heading to Mobile, Alabama in hopes of blending in among

8084-400: The way to Boston'". Dr. Robert Clemens Smedley wrote that following slave catchers' failed searches and lost traces of fugitives as far north as Columbia, Pennsylvania , they declared in bewilderment that "there must be an underground railroad somewhere," giving origin to the term. Scott Shane wrote that the first documented use of the term was in an article written by Thomas Smallwood in

8178-541: The work of free and enslaved African Americans, was assisted by abolitionists and others sympathetic to the cause of the escapees . The enslaved people who risked capture and those who aided them are also collectively referred to as the passengers and conductors of the Railroad, respectively. Various other routes led to Mexico, where slavery had been abolished, and to islands in the Caribbean that were not part of

8272-620: Was "contrary to the ethics of Jesus", Christian congregations and clergy played a role, especially the Religious Society of Friends ( Quakers ), Congregationalists , Wesleyan Methodists , and Reformed Presbyterians , as well as the anti-slavery branches of mainstream denominations which entered into schism over the issue, such as the Methodist Episcopal Church and the Baptists . The role of free blacks

8366-476: Was a southern route on the Underground Railroad into Seminole Indian lands that went from Georgia and the Carolinas into Florida. In Northwest Ohio in the 18th and 19th centuries, three Indigenous/Native American nations, the Shawnee , Ottawa, and Wyandot assisted freedom seekers escape from slavery. The Ottawa people accepted and protected runaways in their villages. Other escapees were taken to Fort Malden by

8460-498: Was crucial; without it, there would have been almost no chance for fugitives from slavery to reach freedom safely. The groups of underground railroad "agents" worked in organizations known as vigilance committees . Free Black communities in Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and New York helped freedom seekers escape from slavery. Black Churches were stations on the Underground Railroad, and Black communities in

8554-516: Was dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Louisville, by the end of the American Civil War 500,000 or more African Americans self-emancipated themselves from slavery on the Underground Railroad. Eric Foner wrote that the term "was perhaps first used by a Washington newspaper in 1839, quoting a young slave hoping to escape bondage via a railroad that 'went underground all

8648-888: Was named Scholar of the Year by the New York Council for the Humanities. In 2009, Foner was inducted as a Laureate of The Lincoln Academy of Illinois and awarded the Order of Lincoln (the State's highest honor) by the Governor of Illinois as a Bicentennial Laureate. In 2012, Foner received The Lincoln Forum's Richard Nelson Current Award of Achievement. In 2020, Foner was awarded the Roy Rosenzweig Distinguished Service Award from

8742-482: Was originally a physics major , before switching to history after taking a year-long seminar with James P. Shenton on the Civil War and Reconstruction during his junior year. "It probably determined that most of my career has been focused on that period," he recalled years later. A year later, in 1963, Foner graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in history. He studied at the University of Oxford as

8836-569: Was part of Mexico. The Texas Revolution , initiated in part to legalize slavery, resulted in the formation of the Republic of Texas in 1836. Following the Battle of San Jacinto , there were some enslaved people who withdrew from the Houston area with the Mexican army, seeing the troops as a means to escape slavery. When Texas joined the Union in 1845, it was a slave state and the Rio Grande became

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