The Underground Railroad – An Act Of Resistance
The Underground Railroad was one if not the most important act towards freedom for black slaves. Tired of being treated as property, harsh punishments and the refusal to live with or provide for the families by their masters, many were led to their only option and would defy state laws to gain freedom. Through the combined effort and secrecy of both blacks and white many gained freedom through this movement. The Underground Railroad a step in black resistance for those who participated in it because it allowed slaves to take back their right to freedom as human beings, unquestionably defied the laws that were so harshly imposed on slaves, and it forced a movement for Black liberation.
The Underground Railroad allowed slaves to actively resist the oppression they we constantly subjected to from their masters. It is no question that slaves were treated less than human and in many cases were often referred to as “Property”. In a newspaper article “The Slave Policy” we can see slaves having their basic human rights being stripped away by law. Slaves we not allowed to own property, slaves were not allowed to intermarry and even go as far as not being allowed to purchase items of their own will. “No free person shall buy or sell to a slave any goods, commodities or other things, without a written permit from the master”. From countless stories many slaves were being treated harshly by their masters constantly stripping them naked, selling them off without a single regard for their families and going as far as refusing them to fend for their own families. So there’s no doubt that they would look to the Underground Railroad as an escape so that they may regain their basic human rights again. The resistance to not live in that kind of oppression and move to states that abolished slavery was the effect of those who used the Underground Railroad. Although secrecy behind this movement was kept only those who used it the law could not ignore the rising of runaway slaves.
Those who dared enough to share the dream of the Underground Railroad did so knowing they were defying the laws that were forced upon them. Many would seek passage to States that had abolished slavery, allowing them means to work and provide for themselves and their families, in a sense be free again. The Fugitive Act of 1850 enabled the United States Congress to force and mandated the capture of slaves in those states that had abolished slavery. The act went as far as to employ the service of all the Marshalls and deputies under the law of the United States. The act would set a motion of events that turned what was an indirectly peaceful way of resisting slavery to a flood of civil disobedience with both blacks and whites alike. They were forced to resist this act using violence, men like Martin Delany an activist openly declared war on the Fugitive Act stating he “would not let that slavecatcher leave his house alive, even if it was the president of the United States with the whole cabinet with him and the slaveholders' Constitution waving above their head”. The men that helped build the Underground Railroad were now rising up to be political activists. The resistance by both whites and blacks began to lay down a foundation for an uprising not only political freedom for blacks but a possibility of racial unity that defined the very world they lived in.
Black Liberation was always the goal of the Underground Railroad, the core reasoning behind it was simply to give freedom to those who were slaves. Abolitionists and Political activists would then come together to finally put an end to the oppression the movement resisted against. The events that led to the Fugitive Act influenced more people joining into the fight against slavery, and only gave birth to Black resistance. The Act made it clear that no one was safe from the chains of slavery whether in a free state or a free slave. It was abundantly clear that a changed need to happen and the only way to do so was for African Americans to gain power. Black liberation was underway as many communities came together to form political protests around the states in order to force a social change. Blacks would resist oppression daily with slaves in the south rebelling even more so and the northern activists contributed by using the Underground Railroad to free even more slaves. It was a nationwide movement that fueled the unity between the black communities, they no longer were hiding from their oppressors but challenging the slavery system with each act of rebellion.
The Underground Railroad was a vital step in the resistance against slavery. It gave a path for many activists and abolitionist who would begin a revolution to change the very future of the slavery system in the United States. By defying the laws that were imposed on them slaves would gain freedom and human rights and in turn join the resistance to give the same to not only those left behind, but to the future of their children. The Underground Railroad was the very movement that incited the black communities across the nation to raise up and build a road that would lead to black liberation and the abolishment of slavery in the United States of America.
Works Cited
- “Fugitive Slave Act 1850.” Avalon Project - Fugitive Slave Act 1850, https://avalon.law.yale.edu/ 19th_century/fugitive.asp.
- National Endowment for the Humanities. “The Nashville Daily Union. [Volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1862-1866, February 17, 1863, Image 3.” News about Chronicling America RSS, Published by an Association of Printers, https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/ sn83025718/1863-02-17/ed-1/seq-3/.
- Still, William. “Preserving American Freedom.” Journal C of Station No. 2 of the Underground Railroad, Agent William Still (Excerpt), June 2-29, 1855 | Exhibits.hsp.org, http://we b.archive.org/web/20160102082306/http://digitalhistory.hsp.org/pafrm/doc/journalc.
- Tate, Gayle T. “Free Black Resistance in the Antebellum Era, 1830 to 1860.” Journal of Black Studies, Rutgers University, vol. 28, no. No. 6, July 1998, pp. 764–782.
- UNDERGROUND RAILROAD, http://crab.rutgers.edu/~glasker/UNDERGRAIL.htm.
