Field Hands

You are a slave.
Your body, your time, your very breath belong to a farmer in 1850s Maryland. Six long days a week you tend his fields and make him rich. You have never tasted freedom. You never expect to.

And yet . . . your soul lights up when you hear whispers of attempted escape. Freedom means a hard, dangerous trek. Do you try it?

 If you choose no...

Most slaves chose not to run away. Historians estimate that only a fraction fled slavery. Millions more lived in bondage, where they fought slavery in subtle ways:
work slowdowns, sabotage, and “sickness.”

Take a journey on The Underground Railroad by choosing YES.

“Moses” is coming! You’ve heard the stories about her. She is Harriet Tubman, a former slave who ran away from a nearby plantation in 1849 but returns to rescue others. Guided by her “visions,” she has never lost a passenger. Even if Moses can’t fit you into her next group, she’ll tell you how to follow the North Star to freedom in Canada.

Maryland Creek

Every step seems louder. Twigs snap, leaves crackle. But you walk on, till you see a group of friendly faces. You join them shyly and meet “General Tubman” herself. She tells you how to sneak across the bridge over the Choptank River and where to find friends in a place called Delaware.

Your head says go, your feet say no. Harriet Tubman told you that a lantern on a hitching post means a safe house. But can you really knock on a white family’s door and trust them to help you?

 

You hear something. You sprint toward the woods, but the terrain is unfamiliar, and you find yourself running across someone’s fields. Will anyone see you? You hear something again, louder this time. Dogs are snarling, slave catchers are yelling. Tired and scared, you trip over a dead log, and they soon surround you. Your escape is over.

Go back to try the other option.

A warm welcome and hot food—that’s what you find inside the house. Guided by their conscience, the owners break the law by helping runaways. Yet terror still haunts you. As you fall asleep you hear bloodhounds not far away. They are looking for fugitives, looking for you. Freedom is still a long way off.

Thomas Garrett

You’ve never seen a city like Wilmington—the people, the streets, the houses, the noise! Now you know the plantation really is hundreds of miles away. Your host, a Quaker businessman named Thomas Garrett, smiles gently and promises you’ll see much bigger cities before you reach Canada.

A good friend of Tubman’s, Garrett has worked on The Underground Railroad for almost 40 years. A few years ago he was arrested and fined $5,400. It didn’t stop him for a minute.

You’ve never met a man like this—not a black man, anyway. Born free, William Still is a successful, confident merchant and a leader in the fight against slavery. He can read and write—skills denied you—and takes careful notes about your journey. Watching your deep, joyous breaths of the free air of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, he cautions you not to get giddy. You’ve reached a free state, it’s true, but United States law still sees you as your master’s property, and bounty hunters are everywhere. He helps you get ready for another long stretch of travel.

Frederick Douglass and Susan B. Anthony

Weeks of trudging, including a grueling passage of almost 250 miles (402 kilometers) through the Appalachian Mountains, have brought you to Rochester. Perhaps you’ll catch a glimpse of fugitive Frederick Douglass, the fiery orator who publishes the North Star, an abolitionist paper. You meet with another noted citizen, activist Susan B. Anthony. She and her antislavery friends give you warm clothing for the hard Canadian climate and make sure you’re taken safely to Lake Erie.

Across Lake Erie lies Canada—and freedom. A few weeks earlier you might have coaxed an easy ride from a sympathetic ferry captain. But as winter takes hold, chunks of ice have begun to form. You might find someone to row you across, or you could try leaping from one ice floe to another. Either way, you’ll be freezing cold. Yet staying exposes you—and your helpers—to slave hunters. Do you try going across?

 

If you choose no...

Agents on The Underground Railroad seem generally to have encouraged their passengers to press on to Canada, which refused to extradite fugitives. Northern cities in the United States may have felt safe, but it was a gamble.

The Fugitive Slave Act, made much harsher in 1850, allowed slave owners to hunt for runaways anywhere in the country. Police and courts were required to help.

If you choose yes...

You made it! It took courage, luck, help, and incredible stamina. Here in Canada, you can finally breathe free. Not only won’t the government return you to slavery in the United States, but you can vote and even own land. No wonder thousands have already run away to settle here. You still face challenges: finding a home, making a living, adjusting to a new place. But you face them in freedom.

The route you traveled—based on Harriet Tubman’s actual journeys—appears in the map.  Using modern roads, the trip would be 560 miles (900 kilometers) long.

A strong, lucky runaway might have made it to freedom in two months. For others, especially in bad weather, the trek might have lasted a year.

(Source: http://www.nationalgeographic.com/railroad/l