State Standards

Kansas

  • Geography
    • 8.1.2

Missouri

  • Social Studies
    • 5.F.6,7
    • 6E6,8
    • 7B5-8
    • 7C5-8

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Lesson 6: Underground Railroad

Background

Slaves seeking to escape their bondage in the southern states were assisted in their trip to a free state or to Canada by people who were committed helping move people out of slavery. The route taken by slaves was called the Underground Railroad and the people along the route who provided food, shelter, and guidance were called conductors or stationmasters. They usually housed and fed slaves and then assisted them along the route, hiding slaves in wagons under parcels, tools, or household goods in case they were stopped along the way. John Brown was a well-known and active conductor and stationmaster on the Underground Railroad.

In this lesson students will use an online resource to trace the path a slave might take to escape to Canada.

Objectives

Following the completion of this lesson, students will be able to:

  1. Trace one route taken by slaves on the Underground Railroad;
  2. Identify obstacles on the route and determine how to overcome them.

Materials

Various topographic maps of the eastern United States

Internet accessibility

Site with landforms for each state. Click on the state, then "Shaded Relief" to find the state landforms and barriers to travel:
http://fermi.jhuapl.edu/states/states.html

Kansas City Lyric Opera Web site:
www.kcopera.org/About/johnbrowneducation

Map of free and slave states:
http://www.learner.org/biographyofamerica/prog10/maps/

Map of Underground Rail Road routes:
http://education.ucdavis.edu/NEW/STC/lesson/socstud/railroad/Map.htm

Time

2-3 class periods

Procedure

Day 1

  1. Ask students if they can name the slave states before the Civil War. Record those that they name on the board. Hand out the map of free and slave states. Have students compare the shaded states with their list.

  2. Ask students individually to choose a slave state that they are interested in or may have visited. Have students get into groups that represent the same state that they chose. Tell them, "You are now slaves in your state. You want to escape and get to Canada. In your group, talk about what route you would take to get from your state to Canada. Determine what geographical and survival challenges you would have. Think about the geography of the states through which you would have to travel. Are there any mountains, rivers, deserts? Will there be enough natural resources to provide you with food, shelter, and water? How will you protect yourself?"

    Students may want to check the topographic maps or do some research on the Web (see Materials) for the geography of their state and those in the path on their way to Canada. On their maps, have them draw what they believe would be the best route.

  3. Students should identify major rivers and the Great Lakes, which were major obstacles in getting to Canada. Ask students how the slaves would be able to get over those obstacles. (Slaves often had to time the trip so that the rivers and lakes were frozen so that they could cross them safely. Sometimes they chose to travel through the mountains because natural landforms, such as mountains, provided a good place to hide and game to eat.)
Day 2

  1. Tell students about the Underground Railroad and that there were certain routes that the escaping slaves would take because of things such as ease of travel, ability to hide along the route, safe houses or stations, or conductors who could help them along the way. Have students go to the Lyric Opera of Kansas City site www.kcopera.org/About/johnbrowneducation. Click on "maps" to see where the major Underground Railroad routes were. If computers are not available, you may want to download the map and copy it for the students.

  2. Let the students return to their state-alike groups and have the groups see how closely these actual routes matched those they designed in the previous lesson. Have students decide which route they think is the best route and defend it. Have students predict if they would make it to Canada or to a free state safely or not. They can defend their position in writing or orally.

Extension

Students who are interested in the Underground Railroad could read Uncle Tom's Cabin or do research on the Web about the book. Have students locate the slave routes referenced in the book.

Students may also want to do some research into local stations on the Underground Railroad. Missouri, especially in areas near St. Louis and along the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers, has a rich history in supporting slaves as they moved north. John Brown took the slaves he captured in Missouri up a route that led through Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa and north or northeast. Students may want to research that route and trace it on their maps.

Essay Contest

Encourage your students to participate in the Lyric Opera of Kansas City Essay Contest. You can find more about it by visiting www.kcopera.org/About/johnbrowneducation/essay.

Lesson created by Martha A. Henry and Keith S. Murray, M.A. Henry Consulting, LLC.