Imagine leaving everything you've ever known?your friends, family, and
home?to travel along roads you've never seen before, getting help from
people you've never met before, with the constant threat of capture
hovering over your every move. Would you risk your life on the
Underground Railroad to gain freedom from slavery?
In The Underground Railroad: Navigate the Journey from Slavery to
Freedom, readers ages 9 to 12 examine how slavery developed in the
United States and what motivated abolitionists to work for its
destruction. The Underground Railroad was a network of secret routes and
safe houses operated by conductors and station masters, both black and
white. Readers follow true stories of enslaved people who braved
patrols, the wilderness, hunger, and their own fear in a quest for
freedom.
In The Underground Railroad, readers dissect primary sources,
including slave narratives and runaway ads. Projects include composing a
song with a hidden message and navigating by reading the nighttime sky.
Amidst the countless tragedies that centuries of slavery brought to
African Americans lie tales of hope, resistance, courage, sacrifice, and
victory?truly an American story.