Slavery and National Underground Railroad History

1. Slavery and National Underground Railroad History University Sojourner Truth E-Mentoring Program October

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

9. Slave Pen in Alexandria, VA • Remnants of the holding pens, where slaves were held before they were auctioned and again before they were lead to the plantation.

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

11. Plantation in Savannah, GA • The master usually arranged for the marriages between the slaves.

12. Field Hands • Slaves were used in every aspect of plantation work.

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

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

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

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

17. Henry “Box” Brown • Ingenious methods of escape began to be developed by the escaping slaves.

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

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

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

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