When I teach slavery at the Ohio State University, I often begin by asking my students who are overwhelmingly white to raise a hand if they have heard of the Underground Railroad. Without fail, nearly every hand goes up. And then I ask them, who would have supported the Underground Railroad

had they lived in Ohio during the era of slavery? And without fail, nearly every hand goes up again.

Ohioans are proud of their state's involvement in the Underground Railroad, that loose network of activists that

helped untold numbers of enslaved African Americans escape freedom. Down in Ripley, Ohio,

the homes of abolitionists John Parker and John Rankin are well preserved. One can even visit

the purported spot where freedom seeker

Eliza Harris, whose bold bid to escape slavery was immortalized by Harriet Beecher Stowe in Uncle

Tom's cabin where she crossed the Ohio River. And throughout the state, there are historical

markers pointing out places where underground railroad safehouses and way stations once stood.

There's one such marker right here on the campus of Ohio State.

And although Ohio's social study standards don't say much about slavery when it's first taught, which is in the fourth grade,

the Underground Railroad is the suggested focus.

And Ohioans should be proud of their state's role in the Underground Railroad.

But failing to put the rich history of the Underground Railroad

in the broader context of American

slavery and settler colonialism does far more harm than good. Contrary to what my students and

most Ohioans have come to believe, the Underground Railroad, even in Ohio, was not widely supported.

So at that moment, when my students all have their hands up, I have to explain a little hard history.

Sorry, all of you would not have supported the Underground Railroad, because if white people

supported the Underground Railroad then because if white people supported the

underground railroad then, like you all are saying you would have, there would have been no need

for the thing to be underground. I understand that people want to be on the right side of history.

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