How The Underground Railroad Got Its Name
Consider This from NPR
NPR
4.1 • 5.3K Ratings
🗓️ 26 February 2024
⏱️ 12 minutes
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Summary
Harriet Tubman is the underground railroad's best known conductor. Tubman, who was a Union spy during the Civil War, escaped slavery in Maryland, but returned again and again, risking her own freedom to help free others, including members of her family.
Inevitably there's much we don't know ...including how the term, the Underground Railroad, came to be.
Journalist Scott Shane, stumbled on the answer while he was writing his book "Flee North: A Forgotten Hero and the Fight for Freedom in Slavery's Borderland."
His book tells the story of Thomas Smallwood, an activist and writer who's story and the key role he played in the abolition movement has mostly been lost to history.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | There's word of an underground railroad. |
| 0:04.0 | Impossible. Indeed. |
| 0:08.0 | Yeah, where do they go? |
| 0:10.0 | In the 2021 television series The Underground Railroad, |
| 0:14.0 | based on Colson Whitehead's Pulitzer Prize winning novel, |
| 0:17.2 | the secret network of abolitionists who helped enslaved people escape to freedom |
| 0:22.0 | is an actual train running underground. |
| 0:25.0 | The underground railroad is bigger than its conductors. |
| 0:29.0 | It's all y'all too. |
| 0:31.0 | The history of the Underground Railroad is filled with stories of bravery, defiance, and sacrifice. |
| 0:37.0 | So it is no surprise that the idea of the Underground Railroad has inspired countless artists, writers, and filmmakers. |
| 0:46.0 | A recent Hollywood biopic portrays Harriet Tubman, a real life heroine. |
| 0:51.0 | Harriet, welcome to the Underground Railroad. Maryland. own freedom to help free others, including members of her own family. |
| 1:04.0 | You try to destroy my family, but you can't. |
| 1:08.0 | Try to destroy my people, but you won't. |
| 1:12.0 | God has shown me the future and my people are free. But consider |
| 1:17.7 | this for every story like Harriet Tubmans there are hundreds more that we don't know, like why it's called the Underground |
| 1:26.0 | Railroad and who named it. |
| 1:32.2 | From NPR, I'm Wanna Summers. It's Monday, February 26th. |
| 1:37.0 | This message comes from NPR sponsor SAP Concur. |
| 1:41.0 | Global Head of Sales Ryan Ryan Demeray, shares how SAP Concur solutions can help solve |
| 1:46.9 | specific problems and support long-term growth. |
... |
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