Journeying the Underground Railroad

The Underground Railroad was a network of routes and safe houses used by enslaved people to escape to freedom in the 19th century. Estimates vary wildly about how many people escaped slavery using the Underground Railroad – anywhere from 20,000 to 100,000. “Journeying the Underground Railroad” showcases the daunting task of those who risked everything to achieve freedom, how slavery in the United States came to be, and how those who escaped lived their lives after slavery. Using maps, atlases, and books that follow the journey from the Southeast to the Northeast, this exhibit shows the routes taken and how difficult these journeys must have been.

Image: [Detail] Hergesheimer, Edwin. “Map Showing the Distribution of the Slave Population of the Southern States of the United States. Compiled from the Census of 1860.” Washington: Henry S. Graham, 1861.

Digital version of exhibit