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in
the United States, a system existing in the Northern states before the Civil War
by which escaped slaves from the South were secretly helped by sympathetic
Northerners, in defiance of the Fugitive Slave Acts
(q.v.), to reach places of safety in the North or in Canada. Though
neither underground nor a railroad, it was thus named because its activities had
to be carried out in secret, using darkness or disguise, and because railway
terms were used in reference to the conduct of the system. Various routes were
lines, stopping places were called stations, those who aided along the way were
conductors, and their charges were known as packages or freight. The network of
routes extended in all directions throughout 14 Northern states and "the
promised land" of Canada, which was beyond the reach of fugitive-slave
hunters. Those who most actively assisted slaves to escape by way of the
"railroad" were members of the free black community (including such
former slaves as Harriet Tubman ), Northern
abolitionists, philanthropists, and such church leaders as Quaker Thomas
Garrett. Harriet Beecher Stowe, famous for her
novel Uncle Tom's Cabin, gained
firsthand knowledge of fugitive slaves through her contact with the Underground
Railroad in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Estimates of the number of black people
who reached freedom vary greatly, from 40,000 to 100,000. Although only a small
minority of Northerners participated in the Underground Railroad, its existence
did much to arouse Northern sympathy for the lot of the slave in the antebellum
period, at the same time convincing many Southerners that the North as a whole
would never peaceably allow the institution of slavery to remain unchallenged.
Bibliography
BIBLIOGRAPHY. Charles L. Blockson, The
Underground Railroad (1987, reissued 1994), compiles narratives of slaves
and their rescuers, while his Hippocrene
Guide to the Underground Railroad (1994), provides information on extant
sites.
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지하철도 (地下鐵道). Underground Railroad
미국에서 남북전쟁이 일어나기 전 흑인에 동정적인
북부의 백인들이 도망노예송환법(Fugitive
Slave Acts)을 피해 도망친 노예들을 비밀리에 북부나 캐나다의
안전지대로 피신시킬 목적으로 북부의 여러 주에서 만든
비밀조직.
실제로 지하철도가 있지는 않았지만 어둠 속에서
변장하여 비밀리에 일을 수행해야 했으며, 조직의 활동을
언급할 때 철도 용어들을 사용했기 때문에 그런 이름이
붙었다. 각종 탈출로는 '노선', 중간대기장소는 '역'(驛)으로
불렸으며 탈출을 돕는 사람은 '차장', 그들이 맡은 사람들은
'소포'나 '화물'로 불렸다. 탈출로는 북부 14개 주와 도망노예
추적자들의 손이 미치지 않는 '약속의 땅' 캐나다 전체에
걸쳐 사방으로 뻗어 있었다. 이 비밀의 '철도'로 노예들을
탈출시키는 일을 가장 열심히 도왔던 사람들은 해리엣 터브먼같이
과거에 노예였다가 자유의 몸이 된 흑인들의 모임 구성원들,
북부지역의 노예제폐지론자, 박애주의자, 퀘이커교도인
토머스 가렛과 같은 교회지도자 등이었다. 〈톰 아저씨의
오두막집 Uncle Tom's Cabin〉이라는 소설로 유명한 해리엣 비처
스토는 오하이오 주 신시내티에 있는 지하철도와 접촉해
도망노예들에 대한 정보를 직접 얻었다.
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