People of the Underground Railroad

Eliza Harris lived in Kentucky a few miles from the Ohio River where she was born. She heard one day that she was to be sold and would be separated from her two year old child. Eliza gathered her child and left Kentucky during the winter on the long journey to the North, where the states didn't have slavery. The journey was not an easy one trough a long the way there were ice chunks and sheets of ice in the river. Facing death and almost froze. While she made her way along by jumping on these ice sheets, slave catchers watched in amazement at of how much she wanted to be free and the extent she was willing to just to have a free life. She was met by a man, who took her to see one of the conductors of the Underground Railroad, Reverend John Rankin. John sent her to Indiana where she was sheltered by Levi and Katie Coffin. Katie gave Eliza and her child the last name of "Harris."

Harriet Tubman was the most famous conductor on the Underground Railroad.  In ten years, she helped more than three hundred slaves escape to freedom. Born into slavery herself on a plantation on the eastern shore of Maryland, she was twenty-eight when she heard a rumor that she was to be sold, so she escaped. She went from one Underground Railroad stop to another. She went from the attic of a Quaker family to the cellar of a free black family. Escaping to freedom in Philadelphia, she found work as a hotel cook. Tubman was free, but her family wasn't. She returned to the South many times to help her family escape to their freedom. Even with a $40,000 bounty on her head, she continued to make her journey to the South to help others find freedom twice a year.

Henry "Box" Brown had a unique idea involving a box and freedom.  He had a friend from Richmond, VA build him a 2' x 3' x 2.5' wooden box, nailed shut, with three small air holes.  The only hard part was finding someone to ship it, as whites could be punished for helping slaves escape just as blacks could.  He found Samual A. Smith, a willing man, to ship him to the AntiSlavery Society of Philadelphia.  As the members of the society removed the lid, Henry stood up, stated "How do you do gentlemen?" and fainted.  From then on he was considered Henry"Box" Brown because his of daring and bold journey to escape to freedom.

Ellen and William Craft were slaves who lived one of the most exciting journeys recorded.  The married couple were not near any Underground Railroad stops in the small town of Macon, Georgia.  Disguises were their best hope.  Ellen, with a light skin tone, could pass for a white man, while William would play Ellen's slave.  Ellen wore a sleek suit and green glasses so her eyes could not be seen.  Lack of writing skills caused her to have to wear a sling so nobody would ask her to write anything.  They embarked on their journey to the North on December 21, 1848.  Ellen purchased train tickets and they traveled by train and steamboat from Macon to Maryland.  On Christmas morning, they were greeted by antislavery groups when they arrived in Philadelphia.