Also American

Curriculum unit

The Underground Railroad

How enslaved people freed themselves with the help of a secret network — and how we know their stories.

Unit objectives

Students explain how the Underground Railroad worked, identify key conductors and escapes, and evaluate the courage and risks involved.

  1. Lesson 1 · 1 class period

    How the railroad worked

    Objectives

    Explain the network of routes, "stations," "conductors," and codes.

    Materials

    Timeline entries below; the Underground Railroad theme; NPS Network to Freedom.

    Introduce the secret, interracial network and the people who ran it, from Tubman to William Still.

    Teach from these moments
    1. 1852
      William Still's Vigilance Committee

      Philadelphia reorganizes its Vigilance Committee under William Still, who begins the record-keeping that becomes the UGRR's defining archive.

    Discussion questions

    Why the railroad metaphor? Who took the greatest risks, and why?

  2. Lesson 2 · 1 class period

    The great escapes

    Objectives

    Compare daring escapes and what they reveal about the will to be free.

    Materials

    Timeline entries below; the narratives of Henry Box Brown and the Crafts.

    Henry "Box" Brown's crate, the Crafts' disguise, and the rescues at Syracuse and Boston.

    Teach from these moments
    1. December 25, 1848
      The escape of William and Ellen Craft

      Disguised as a white planter and his valet, the Crafts complete a 1,000-mile escape from Georgia, reaching free Philadelphia on Christmas Day.

    2. March 23, 1849
      Henry "Box" Brown mails himself to freedom

      Henry Brown is sealed in a crate and shipped from Richmond to Philadelphia, arriving alive after 27 hours — one of the most audacious escapes ever.

    3. October 1, 1851
      The Jerry Rescue

      A Syracuse crowd of thousands breaks into a jail to free William "Jerry" Henry, defying the Fugitive Slave Act.

    Discussion questions

    What made each escape work? What would you have risked?

  3. Lesson 3 · 1 class period

    How we know their stories

    Objectives

    Evaluate William Still's records as the primary source for the UGRR.

    Materials

    Timeline entries below; William Still's "The Underground Railroad" (1872).

    Study Still's record-keeping and how it preserved the names and voices of the freed.

    Teach from these moments
    1. 1852
      William Still's Vigilance Committee

      Philadelphia reorganizes its Vigilance Committee under William Still, who begins the record-keeping that becomes the UGRR's defining archive.

    Discussion questions

    Why did Still write everything down? How do primary sources shape history?