The Underground Railroad and Life of Slavery

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that, although the use of slavery became a legal system in the United States, there were still many free Americans who were against slavery and often assisted people of African descent attempting to escape their life of slavery. The author relates that the Underground Railroad was a name given to a system that, despite the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, was ran by a vast network of people, mostly abolitionists, which helped runaway slaves escape to the northern states and eventually to Canada. The paper questions if the Brooklyn house said to be owned by Harriet Truesdell, a supporter of the Underground Railway and believed to have been one of the possible 'stations' of the Underground Railroad network should be preserved.

Table of Contents:
History of Slavery in the United States
The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850
The Underground Railroad
The Underground Railroad in Brooklyn

From the Paper:

"Although it was claimed that the Underground Railroad has numerous stations and stretched to several states from the south to the northern states and while it is clear that New York has a role in the movement, it is still not clear as to whether or not Brooklyn was one of the areas that the Underground Railroad used during its movement. It might be possible that there were houses in Brooklyn that were used as 'stations' for fugitive slaves but there are no clear evidences that would prove this. This might be a result of the different methods that the movement was using to keep their actions undetected."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Sarah Ryley. (August 16, 2007). City Seeks Developer for Downtown Park, Garage. Brooklyn Daily Eagle.
• Duncan Clarke. (1998). History of American Slavery. PRC Publishing.

More papers on The Underground Railroad and Life of Slavery:

• Term Paper # 115839 : "The Underground Railroad"
• Essay # 26908 : "The Underground Railroad to Canada"
• Book Review # 148770 : "Harriet Tubman: Imaging a Life"

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