Lessons Learned This Semester #2

This semester in American Literature I have learned a lot about slaves. I learned somethings that I didn’t know that was a real surprise to me. Like the fact that slaves didn’t have a record of themselves. I thought that the owners of slaves would have clear records of the slaves in case the slave escapes. I also learned that there are many novels about slaves and how they were treated. And what amazes me is that some of the novels were written by slaves. Poems about slaves were also something that I discovered in this semester. The poems will be very deep and usually talk about how they plan to escape or their dreaming of escape.

In this semester I also learned about the underground railroad. I never knew that it was not underground nor was it a railroad. It went north to non-slavery states. Often times the passengers of the underground railroad would stop at free states such as Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Ohio. The “underground railroad” got its name from its activities that had to be carried out in secret, using darkness or disguise, and things that are underground are generally invisible. And since the underground railroad was secret it was invisible to most people. Thus getting the name underground railroad. The underground railroad was also used as safe houses for those slaves who were trying to escape.

The underground railroad operated at night. Slaves were moved from "station" to "station" by abolitionists. These "stations" were usually homes and churches. These places allowed them to rest and eat, before continuing their journey into freedom. One famous conductor of the underground railroad was Harriet Tubman, who herself was born a slave. She helped many slaves escape to slavery including her family members. The underground railroad was established approximately in 1780 and ended around the year 1862 with the start of the The Civil War. The underground railroad was a series of routes in many locations in the south, north and east that lead mostly to Canada.