the underground railroad - Jamesville-DeWitt Central School District

Lesson 3
People of the Underground Railroad
12
Guiding Question: Who were the heroes of the Underground Railroad?
I. Read
It took many people to make the Underground Railroad
work. People broke the law to help freedom seekers. This
portrait of people includes both men and women, all of whom
put their lives on the line for freedom. The story of the
Underground Railroad is an epic one of the love and
humanity of people.
Harriet Tubman was one of the most famous conductors on
the Underground Railroad. She escaped slavery and then
helped over 300 slaves to freedom. She was nicknamed
Moses. Tubman ultimately settled in Auburn, New York.
Central New York became a promising and popular haven for many fugitives and was
well-established in part because of CNY’s unique system of transportation as well as
the many citizens who were willing to challenge the law. In Syracuse, NY Harriet
Powell and Jerry Henry were two escaped slaves who were helped to Canada for
freedom. The local stationmaster in Syracuse, Jermain Loguen helped plan Jerry
Henry’s escape and often took slaves from Harriet Tubman so they could be housed
and fed.
Matilda Joslyn Gage, offered her Fayetteville, NY home as a station on the
Underground Railroad in defiance of federal law (the Fugitive Slave Act). She
could have been fined 1,000 dollars (23,000 dollars today) and spent 6 months in jail
for this public proclamation. Abolitionists such as Gage were willing to risk fines and
prison to care for the safety of slaves on their journey to freedom in the North.