Welcome to the Underground Railroad
My name is Ellen Vonderahe and I teach 4th grade Social Studies. Over the years I have taught my 4th grade students about the Underground Railroad and slavery. About three years ago my students did a project in which they were a slave escaping from slavery and had to decide whether to use the Underground Railroad to escape or stay with their master. During the process of their project, the students explored several web sites about the Underground Railroad and loved them. I thought it would be a neat idea to share with you their experience and projects they did on the subject, besides other material and other ideas about the Underground Railroad and activities to use with your students or children.
I hope you enjoy the site and bring something into your classroom.
Contact
Ellen Vonderahe
Search site
Harriet Tubman:
Did you know that Harriet Tubman also known as "Moses" was a slave who ran away and escaped to freedom. She was the founder of the Underground Railroad. The Underground Railroad wasn't an actual railroad, it was trails or pathways that slaves used to guide them to Canada where they could be free. Harriet was called the "Conductor" because she was the person to guide the slaves through the Underground Railroad. Harriet went back to the south 19 times to guide more then 300 slaves to freedom. Harriet didn't do this work all on her own, she had 100's of people along the way to help the slaves find freedom. You can find out more about Harriet using the URR links.
"The Stairway to Freedom"
This photograph shows the "Freedom Stairway," the one hundred steps leading from the Ohio River to the John Rankin House in Ripley, a station on the Underground Railroad. John Rankin (1793-1886) was a Presbyterian minister and educator who devoted much of his life to the antislavery movement. The house has several secret rooms in which slaves were hidden. A light was placed in the window of the house to indicate that it was safe for slaves to approach. The John Rankin House is now a museum, part of the Ohio Historical Society's state-wide network of historic sites.
