Henry "box" Brown

Henry "Box" Brown was born in 1815 in Louisa County, VA. While living on a plantation at the time of his enslavement, he married a fellow slave, as well as had a baby girl.  In 1849 the three of them were sold to a owner in NC.  While living in NC, he decided to make a daring escape for freedom.  His plan was to mail himself in a box with the help of a tobacconist.  He was put into a box and shipped to Philadelphia.  In Philadelphia a man named James McKim received a package containing Henry.  Was was deemed one of the most daring escapes in the Antebellum era.

Codes of the Underground Railroad

• Stations = Homes and businesses where slaves could rest and eat
• Stationmasters = Those that ran the stations
• Stockholders = Contributors of money to the “Underground Railroad”
• Conductor = In charge of moving slaves safely from one place to another

These codes were needed to keep the Underground Railroad a secret and insure the safety of freed slaves.  It was very high risk on both sides.  The Stationmasters had to keep a low profile, because if caught they would be killed or hurt. And if the slaves were caught, they would be forced back into slavery.

The Underground Railroad Pennsylvania

The Underground Railroad was not actually a railroad or under ground/  In fact is was homes, institutions, and routes the slaves traveled to freedom.  Pennsylvania being the first free state north of the Mason-Dixon line provided a lot of points to freedom.  The trail goes through other northern counties like reading, PA.  Which in itself had a very important role in the Underground Railroad.  Reading had stations where slaves should stop, and be ushered further north .  I think it is so cool to live  in a state that plan a major role in history.  I wish i could spend a back and see how everything was done, and how the Underground Railroad operated.

Negative cultural impact from the slave trade

The slave trade had a huge negative impact on African-American families.  The trauma of loosing family members, removing members from the social framework that depended on them for living.  The stress that it put upon others is unreal.  Psychological disorders that came from this is off the charts.  The people that for taken and put into the slave trade had roles in the community had had an impact on others.  If you remove a man who is well known for trading.  Who are you going to trade with now that he was taken. It is sad that this had to happen.  I'm grateful that today we do not live in a society that excepts slave trade.

The Hiding Spaces

Conductors had to become very creative with hiding runaway slaves, especially in their own homes. If they were caught, they would be punished, along with all of the runaway slaves.

Here is one example of a hiding space, it was located in Reverend Alexander Dobblin's home in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. In 1810, he created sliding shelves that doubled as a hiding space for slaves in the crawl space behind them.

Floor boards, secret rooms, behind cupboards, and barns hid fugitives as they awaited transportation to the next town. Wagons with hidden compartments underneath hay or produce transported slaves. These hiding spaces were temporary and usually very cramped and uncomfortable. Below are examples of a wagon with a hidden compartment and a house in Cincinnati, which had a secret room under the floor. 

-Emily

The meaning of the song "I've been working on the railroad"

I've been working on the railroad
All the livelong day
I've been working on the railroad
Just to pass the time away

Can't you hear the whistle blowing
Rise up so early in the morn
Can't you hear the captain shouting
Dinah, blow your horn

Dinah, won't you blow
Dinah, won't you blow
Dinah, won't you blow your horn
Dinah, won't you blow
Dinah, won't you blow
Dinah, won't you blow your horn

Someone's in the kitchen with Dinah
Someone's in the kitchen I know
Someone's in the kitchen with Dinah
Strumming on the old banjo, and singing

Fie, fi, fiddly i o
Fie, fi, fiddly i o
Fie, fi, fiddly i o
Strumming on the old banjo

Some people believe that this song was created by African-Americans who were working on the railroad at the time.  Often, the workers or slaves would sing a song to pass the time.  There are a lot of different opinions about this song and where it came from.  I believe in my own opinion that it was made while working on the rail road. 

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkQQbRqLoCI

Quilt Codes

      The African Americans found other resourceful ways to convey codes to other slaves and runaways as well. This was done through what is called a "quilt code". A "quilt code" is various geometric patterns commonly found in American patchwork quilts. These were used to convey messages in connection with the Underground Railroad.
     But even among Code proponents, the patterns’ meanings, how the quilts were used, and who used them is a matter of debate: as of mid-2005 at least 15 contradictory versions of the Code were circulating. Some proponents claim the Code as part of their family oral history, but none can point to an ancestor who used it to escape to the North or even participated in the Underground Railroad.

The link below is to a website that explains what each block on the quilt meant.

http://home2.fvcc.edu/~cgreig/final/blocks.html

-Emily