The Greatest Lakes
Freedom Trails North:
the Underground Railroad in the Great Lakes Country

The "infamous" Oberlin Rescuers, who assisted in the freeing of a captured fugitive.
This photo was taken in the Cuyahoga County Jail (Cleveland).
Compliments of the Oberlin College Archives.

by Timothy McDonnell
Victor Jr. High School
Victor, New York

CONNECTIONS TO THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHY STANDARDS:
The geographically aware person knows…
Std. 15 - How physical systems affect human systems.
Std. 17 - How to apply geography to interpret the past.

CONNECTIONS TO THE NEW YORK STATE STANDARDS FOR SOCIAL STUDIES:
Std. 1.2 - Important ideas, social and cultural values, beliefs and traditions from United States history illustrate the connections and interactions of people and events across time and from a variety of perspectives.
Std. 3.2 - Geography requires the development and application of the skills of asking and answering geographic questions; analyzing theories of geography; and acquiring, organizing, and analyzing geographic information.

OBJECTIVES: (to know, to do, and to be like)
1. Students will trace the routes of the Underground Railroad through the Great Lakes Region.
2. They will ask geographic questions about the routes taken by fugitive slaves towards Canada.
3. The students will compare the towns of Ripley and Oberlin, Ohio in the antislavery movement.
4. They will describe the challenges faced both by fugitives and Underground Railroad conductors to avoid detection and capture.

MATERIALS:
Activity Worksheet (in pdf format); map of the Underground Railroad (http://education.ucdavis.edu/NEW/STC/lesson/socstud/railroad/Map.htm), Freedom Trail North game and instructions, dice or spinner.

PROCEDURES:
1. Review with students the history of the Underground Railroad - how it got its name, methods of transporting and hiding Freedom Seekers, the risks of helping escaped slaves, the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850, etc.).
2. Show students a copy of the escape routes of the Underground Railroad from the University of California at Davis (see Materials above). Have them interpret the map. Why are so many of the routes found in Great Lakes states, i.e. Ohio, Indiana, Illinois? Do they think the Great Lakes themselves helped or hindered the Freedom Seekers in their escapes into Canada?
3. Two Ohio towns played a very prominent role in the fight against slavery: Ripley and Oberlin. Have the students visit web sites about these two communities and answer the questions on the worksheet. The web sites are: http://www.oberlin.edu/external/EOG/BlackHistoryMonth/blackhist.html and http://www.ripleyohio.net/underground.htm.
4. Students are now ready to play the game about the Underground Railroad, Freedom Trail North. They should be assigned roles. Follow the directions from the game. The goal is to get the fugitives to Canada. Each participant is faced with difficult decisions, and there are consequences for those decisions (including being returned to slavery, imprisonment, heavy fines).
5. To wrap up this lesson, have the students generate a list of "pros" and "cons" for participating in the Underground Railroad. Then ask them if they personally would have joined in this cause, if they lived 150 years ago.

SUGGESTED STUDENT ASSESSMENT
1. Assess the worksheet to see if the problems have been solved correctly.
2. Ask students to trace the route a fugitive slave might have taken in the Northeastern United States (i.e. from Maryland’s Eastern Shore to Niagara Falls). Can they apply their knowledge of geography to that route?
3. If you live in an eastern state, have students research Underground Railroad sites in your locality.

ADAPTATIONS AND EXTENSIONS:
1. The web site for Oberlin includes a short reading play about the Rescue. Have the students perform it!
2. The History Channel has produced an excellent video about the Underground Railroad. It is available in many libraries, and it can be purchased from the History Channel web page.
3. One of the most daring escapes was made by Eliza Harris across the partially frozen Ohio River. She was the inspiration for Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Read about her real story. A well-written account of her escape is told in Bound for the North Star
by Dennis Brindell Fradin.