Quakers And The Underground Rr Essay
While the free essays can give you inspiration for writing, they cannot be used 'as is' because they will not meet your assignment's requirements. If you are in a time crunch, then you need a custom written term paper on your subject (quakers and the underground rr)
Here you can hire an independent writer/researcher to custom write you an authentic essay to your specifications that will pass any plagiarism test (e.g. Turnitin). Waste no more time!
The Beginning of the Underground Railroad
During the years prior to the Civil War, many people in the United States greatly opposed slavery. Far from being passive victims waiting to be rescued, enslaved blacks never ceased in their struggle for freedom. From the moment Africans were captured in the interior and coastlands of West Africa, to the time they were sold as slaves in the Caribbean and the new colonies of North America, black slaves acted as aggressively as possible to maintain their own African heritage and seek freedom.1 Drawing on their cultural strengths and traditions, Africans survived, resisted, and escaped. There is no time during the history of slavery in America that enslaved blacks did not resist, in whatever way circumstances would allow. Thus, their efforts laid the first tracks of the Underground Railroad.2
The Underground Railroad is the continuation of the compelling story of resistance and struggle of slaves in their quest for freedom. The Underground Railroad was neither underground nor a railroad, but a secret network of safe houses and antislavery activists -black, white, and Native American- who helped slaves escape to freedom. The Underground Railroad was, in fact, an informal yet intricate network of routes leading north, eventually to Canada. By virtue of its covert nature, the Underground Railroad was also the story of codes and secrets involving cunning systems of visual and oral communication, known only to those involved and reflecting the indomitable spirit of people s resistance to slavery and desire to be free.3 Consequently, there were many groups and individuals who took the time to help slaves. These groups sometimes risked their lives, and the lives of slaves to help them to freedom. Among the main groups of people, who helped slaves escape from bondage were Members of the Society of Religious Friends, commonly called Quakers. The Underground Railroad held a certain idealism that motivated Quakers to join in helping slaves escape from bondage.
The story of the Underground Railroad is part of the much larger story of the personal and cultural survival of these proud African America people brought to America against their will. From the first moments slaves were kidnapped from their homeland, shackled and put aboard ship for the Americas, Africans plotted their escape.4 Paralleling the slaves struggle for freedom were the efforts of North American colonists attempting to free themselves from the oppression of English tyranny.5 Consequently, a chain of attempts to escape from slavery created what was called the Underground Railroad. The Underground Railroad did not receive its name until around 1831 when slave catchers were unable to catch a runaway slave named Tice Davis and said, He must have gone on an underground road. 6 Ultimately road was changed to railroad in honor of the steam trains that were revolutionizing the North. The name added to the mystery because the railroad ran without trains or rails. And from then on, the Underground Railroad remained a permanent name for this anti-slavery movement.
The railroad was most active in the sixty years before the Civil War, when there were over 3,200 workers on the railroad, many of whom were blacks.7 From 1830 to 1865, the Underground Railroad reached its peak as abolitionists and sympathizers who condemned human bondage aided large numbers and bondsmen to freedom.8 Not all abolitionists favored aiding fugitive slaves, and some believed that money and energy should go to political action. However, those who where involved, the Underground Railroad provided them the opportunity and assistance for escaping slavery and finding freedom. As Charles H. Blockson describes in his National Geographic article Escape from Slavery: The Underground Railroad, it was a network of paths through the woods and fields, river crossings, boats and ships, trains and wagons, all haunted by the specter of recapture. 9 Life for a runaway slave was full of hazards. No one knew the entire system because it had to operate in such secrecy. The less one knew, the less on could reveal. As a part of the Compromise of 1850, a new Fugitive Slave Act was passed that made it both possible and profitable to hire slave catchers to find and arrest runaways. Because of the dangers involved, records were seldom kept and others were destroyed. Homes, churches, and schoolhouses serves as hiding places called stations, depots, or safe houses, operated by stationmasters. 10 The journey to freedom meant traveling only a few miles at night, using the North Star as a map and trying to avoid search parties.11 Since they could carry little food, they had to make their journey weakened by hunger. During the 1830 s and 1840 s, the dangers in running the Underground Railroad increased.12 Escaping slaves were gripped by fear that they might be caught and beaten, then returned to even harder labor. Hostile neighbors reported activities they considered suspicious.13
The slaves' flight to freedom was made possible and facilitated by the courageous men and women who believed in the right of all humans to be free from human bondage. Some courageous men and women ventured South to encourage slaves to run away. Despite the risk of getting caught and killed due to the laws regulating the aid of escaping slaves, many, specifically Quakers aided the African American s to their freedom- even if it meant death. In addition, in spite of the long record of slavery in the annals of human history, the Quakers viewed it as barbarism.14 Although Quakerism and Christianity are two different religions, Quakerism shares many similar beliefs and views of Christianity.
The Views and Beliefs of Quakerism
Although firmly rooted in Christianity, Quakerism has never had a fixed set of theological beliefs.15 The Friends as a group had no written creed. As individuals they may be liberal or conservative; they may or may not believe in the Trinity and the divine nature of Christ.16 Although Quakers has no formal written beliefs, the Quakers stood strong with their beliefs. With such strong and sturdy foundation of faith, Quakers were able to make their voice heard. Quaker testimonies for equality and against violence grow out of a Quaker belief that there is that of God in every man. 17 Every person, according to Quakers, is worthy of reverence, and each has within him a seed which will illuminate his conscience and will help him grow spiritually.18 A direct experience of God is open to anyone who is willing to sit quietly and search diligently for it, Quakers believe.19 In addition, every person has the capacity for religious experience, just as he has the capacity to fall in love, but he must be willing to approach worship with an open heart, experientially.20 Simplicity, pacifism, and inner revelation are long standing Quaker beliefs. However, their religion does not consist of accepting specific beliefs or of engaging in certain practices; it involves each person's direct experience of God. One of the trademarks of the Quakers has been their insistence upon equality regardless of race, creed, and national origin.21 With so much faith supporting the Quakers, it was inevitable that Quakers had involvement in the Underground Railroad.
The Quakers involved in the Underground movement
As early as the eighteenth century, the Quakers came to assist the fugitives, and so secret pathways of Underground Railroad were planned, with "stations," "conductors," and sometimes even travel vehicles; although most of the journey was made with foot.22 Quakers were most outspoken against human slavery and involved themselves to a great extent in smuggling runaway slaves to freedom.23 Many Quakers felt the desire to help escaping slaves on their way to Canada.24 Because of the Fugitive Slave Act, aiding slaves in escaping was illegal. Even if a slave ran away to a northern free state, if the slave was caught, they would be returned to their owners. This Act made aiding slaves especially dangerous for Quakers, however very profiting to slave owners. Some owners had trained bloodhounds to hunt the scent of slaves, making escape life threatening to both Quakers and the slaves. However, their firm belief in equality prevailed over any fear that came across their minds. The Quakers were willing to risk their lives to free slaves from bondage based on their strong beliefs in equality. Some devoted their whole life to helping slaves. However, no issues aroused livelier debate within the Society of Friends than the question of participation in the Underground Railroad. Thus, their overwhelming participation in this abolition movement. The Quakers never officially sponsored the Underground Railroad; however, many individuals played a prominent role in the movement throughout our country.25
One Quaker in particular, Levi Coffin of Cincinnati, was called the President of the Underground railroad, have helped some one hundred slaves escape each year for twenty years.26To the thousand of escaped slaves, an eight-room Federal style brick home in Newport (Fountain City), Indiana, became a safe haven on their journey to Canada.27 This was the home of Levi and Catherine Coffin, North Carolina Quakers who opposed slavery.28 During the 20 years they lived in Newport, the Coffins helped more than 2,000 slaves reach safety through all the hours of the day; day or night.29
At the beginning of the more organized efforts that Mr. Coffin took part in to help fleeing slaves, his group was driven out...
MLA Style
. EssayMania.com. Retrieved on 24 May, 2012 from
<http://essaymania.com/142982/quakers-and-the-underground-rr>
More College Papers
Beauracracy essay
In a democratic society, we the people elect representatives to carry out our needs and trust in them that they will carry out that representation in an efficient and responsible manner for the best interest of the public they are representing. That United States government as a legislature, execut
Hard Times essay
Hard Times
_Hard Times_ was first published in _Household Words_ as a series and then compiled into 3 books. Dickens intertwined several people's lives in these writings. Louisa had two very different relationships with her father and brother. Louisa's relationship with her father is one where s
Obasan essay
Obasan is a great book so far; I can t seem to put it down. It had a lot of emotion that touched me. The way that the point of view was presented really emphasized the emotion in the beginning. It also used a lot of great visual imaging to make me feel as if I was there with the charters. At one poi