The Underground Railroad Program

Lesson: Methods of Securing Freedom

Introduction: 

“The Underground Railroad” activity is designed to investigate the covert and overt methods runaway slaves used to escape to the North. Most of this activity is developed around the translation of quilting symbols, for quilts were use by abolitionists to help slaves identify safe havens and to navigate their route to freedom. The texts referenced for this program are Hidden in Plain View: A Secret Story of Quilts and the Underground Railroad by Jacqueline Tobin and Raymond Dobard , Harriet Tubman: The Road to Freedom by Catherine Clinton and Underground Railroad Sampler by Eleanor Burns and Sue Bouchard. This activity is about the sophistication and complexity of an escape by people without a formal education or conceptual image of their route or destination.

Objective:

·        Provide a reasonably accurate account of the knowledge needed to travel on the Underground Railroad.

·        Explore Harriet Tubman’s contributions to the Underground Railroad and the Civil War.

·        Discuss concepts of visual literacy, associative learning and traditional learning.

·        Introduce the activity’s participants to the 30 quilting symbols needed to navigate the course.

Methodology:

 In exploring the history of slaves running away, it is important that a run be include in this activity.  We have chosen Sands Point to be our location for this activity because of its clearly marked paths; the grounds are mapped out and have a gate enclosing its perimeter. These are important things to consider before selecting a site for large groups of children.

 Participants will be asked to complete the course as quickly as possible. They will be given a list of quilting symbols and the meaning of each symbol. Student should be introduced to these symbols well before the run.

We will first discuss the historical and educational relevance of the activity.  Then students are escorted though the route (run) by docents and program leaders. The course is then marked using the quilting designs. Some of the designs have no meaning to the Underground Railroad and are used as decoys to test the participants’ recall of the original symbols given for the run.

Students are divided into smaller groups with a program leader to assist each group. They are told to navigate the course within a given time. The groups will be given several opportunities to complete the course. They will be asked to start over if they take a wrong route. Each time a group is returned to the home base for failing to complete the course, they will be asked to do exercises for a given time, and to restart the course. The goal of this activity is to show students that it required not only physical strength and endurance to complete the journey north, but also an understanding of the environment, local cultures and codes. Failure to understand any of these things could result in the loss of freedom or life.

Fee Structure 

The cost of the program is as follows:

Special Education Program I - $5.00 per participant