Paper Example on Slaves and Escape

The slaves especially African American suffered both physical and emotional abuse since slavery was a legal institution. The slaves were usually discriminated and were harshly treated while working in plantations and women were often raped. Due to such treatment, some slaves decided to escape to countries such as Canada where slavery was banned. During this period, there were laws that required slaves to carry official passes if they were not traveling with their master and this was a major challenge to fugitive slaves. However, this did not hinder slaves from running away from their masters since they employed various tactics that helped them to reach their preferred destinations.

The commonly used method was Underground Railroad. It was referred to as underground since it was an underground resistance and railroad as a mean of use of terminology in the code. The underground railroad comprised of the various player such as abolitionist sympathizers, train conductors, former slaves and white abolitionist who helped the fugitives to move from one station to another. The underground railroad was organized in such a way that there was the meeting point, secret routes, safe houses and means of transportation. The whole scheme of operation was not known to everyone, and hence underground operators only knew specific part of the operation to reduce the risk of infiltration(Walls). Fredrick Douglass, a runaway slave, and a writer wrote disapprovingly about the underground railroad and depicted that it was not a smooth journey as some of us think. He planned to escape from Baltimore to the north, and this was not an easy task since trains were frequently watched for fugitive slaves and colored individuals were required to have free papers. Also, they were only allowed to travel during the day and were thoroughly inspected. Douglass had to look for papers for a free man, and this was dangerous since the documents contained the name, age, a height of the holder among other identities. On the underground road, he could have been caught if at all the inspector had looked at the free paper carefully. Also, even with a night ban that was imposed on people of color, Douglass still risked his life and traveled at night toward Philadelphia (Douglass).

The need for secrecy was paramount in this mission since there was severe punishment to those found helping the fugitives to escape. Therefore, rail terminologies were used to maintain confidentiality and confuse slave catchers. Supporters of the Underground Railroads used words railroad conductors that were used daily to come up with their code as the secret language so as to assist slaves to escape. The railroad was just an upcoming mode of transportation, and its language was not that widespread, and that is why railroad language was preferred. Code word could be used in letters to agents, and this meant that in case they were intercepted, it was not easy to identify the major players. Also, the slaves used the railroad code in their songs that they sang to communicate to each other without their masters noticing. The code words frequently used on the Underground Railroad were agents, and this were individuals that helped slaves to find railroads, conductors were referred to as guide, hiding places were stations, and fugitive slaves were called cargo among others. It was estimated that 100, slaves had escaped via Railroad by 1850 and were successful to rich their destinations such as Canada (Walls). Conclusively, even though underground railroad helped many slaves to escape from their master, slaves still faced a lot challenges in places that they ran to such as Canada. There were racial discrimination and lack of jobs, and many of them ended up living a desperate life.Work cited

Douglass, Frederick. "My Escape from Slavery." Atlantic Monthly 18. 1886: 761-765.

Walls, Bryan. "Underground Railroad Terminology | Underground Railroad | PBS." Underground Railroad Terminology | Underground Railroad | PBS. Web. 15 June 2017.