Underground Railroad Looked Both Ways.

Underground Railroad looked both ways. "Come on, hurry!" I whispered. The woman, in her thirties and carrying a baby in her arms, dashed inside my house. Before I closed the door, I again looked both ways to make sure no one had seen us.

Turning to the woman, whose eyes were wide open and staring straight at me, I said, "Can I get you some water? Food?" Without saying a word, the woman nodded and then looked at her baby obviously, as if to hint that the child was also full of thirst and hunger. Come on, sit down. You can take your shoes off if you wish." I motioned toward the dining room table and smiled, hoping to help her relax and to feel safe.

This was the second fugitive slave that had passed through our territory here in Virginia. I dared not even mention the occurrences to our neighbors. We didn't know who to trust. Every day, runaway slaves are being sent back South, where they are most often lynched, humiliated, or at the very least, chained again to the same master. When the first fugitive found our farmhouse, he startled me with his candor. Please miss," he said out of breath from running. "I'm trying to get to New York.

Can I ask you for help?" I am not an active abolitionist. I shun politics like I would rotten meat. But when Ty, the first black man to ask me for assistance, pleaded his case I could not refuse. From that moment on I became a conductor of the Underground Railroad.

At the time I didn't call it that; the term trickled into my consciousness years later, when I heard about all the stories of men and women who, like me, saw no reason but to help the poor men, women, and families make their way toward freedom. Having never owned slaves and having little sympathy for plantation owners who did, I easily fell into my unsolicited role as a conductor.

After Mary, the woman who held her newborn in her trembling arms, a good dozen former slaves used my farmhouse as a stopping point along the tracks. The Underground Railroad was an informal network of aide and assistance for those who would escape the bondage of slavery and seek freedom. Besides the Underground Railroad made famous by American History, other such systems have offered similar services. Until all persons in the world are free, Underground Railroads will operate in order to bring freedom and liberty to all human beings.

Anyone who as read Anne Frank's diary knows that an Underground Railroad similar to the one that existed in the United States helped Jews escape Nazi horrors during World War Two. Like the many men and women who risked their lives by helping the black slaves in the antebellum South run toward freedom, conductors of the Underground Railroads in Europe risked their lives helping Jews and others who were persecuted by the Nazis.

In both cases, the conductors and others who participated were putting their lives and reputations on the line. Therefore, Underground Railroad participants deserve notoriety and accolades for their bravery and compassion. The Underground Railroad operates against the popular tide. The whole reason why the "railroad" is underground is because existing laws protect the rights of slave owners. In the South, slavery was legal and runaways could be legally.