What a great new four-part series we’re offering up to all viewers! In National Underground Railroad: Activities and Accomplishments, a lecture from the AAHGS Conference, Spencer Crew fills us all in on the history and drama of the underground railroad – and due to his credentials as both a historian holding a Ph.D. from Rutgers, and in his current position as the Executive Director of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, who would be in a better position to help us understand this very remarkable time in the history of the United States?
Dr. Crew’s definition of the Underground Railroad can be summed up as the well-organized intersection of activities of various people and organizations that help one another to escape to freedom. And the movement worked very well, indeed. While most of us think that the Underground Railroad was active only during the Civil War, we learn in this lecture that while it was less prominent, it surely existed in one form or another since the beginning of slavery in this country. Estimate of the number of slaves who successfully escaped using it? Approximately 100,000. BUT, that number pales when compared to the number of individuals enslaved in the U.S. in the 1860’s -- an astounding 4 million! To learn more significant facts, including the political and economic impact of slavery, why there was such significant resistance to the Underground Railroad, and how this became the first interracial activist movement in this country, Og urges you to watch this very informative series.
Og from Roots Television