Industrial Revolution (1800’s-1940’s)
40 The Underground Railroad
Kassidy Swinyer
Introduction
During a time of renowned technological advances and groundbreaking inventions that propelled American civilizations, the Underground Railroad became one of the most interconnected, well-known yet quiet inventions during this time period. The Underground Railroad was a secret corporation of abolitionists and slaves that fought against the chains of slavery in the 1800s. Although there is no exact timestamp of when the blueprints for this invention originated due to the efforts made to ensure knowledge of the path to freedom remained hidden, the Underground Railroad operated roughly between 1840-1950. At first glance, salvation for enslaved peoples may not seem industrial or technological, but the mechanics of this railroad reveal an ideology that was as revolutionary as a well-oiled machine. In this chapter you will learn about the science and technology that was utilized in the slaves’ grand escape to the Promised Land, and how this extraordinary network of heroes changed the lives of thousands.
The Underground Railroad as a movement in American history is known as the story of slaves escaping their abusive masters, travelling across the country in secret with the help of Quakers who believed in the betterment of all human life and finding their freedom. This understanding of the Underground Railroad is not a false understanding. However, it lacks the means by which the slaves were able to achieve success along their path, and the bigger picture of how this endeavor shaped all of America thereafter.
Science & Technology
Recent studies of old diaries and letters paint the picture of what was left undocumented during the Underground Railroad. Science and technology played huge roles in the slaves’ ability to escape right under the noses of their masters and travel great distances in secret, often to Canada. “Code words would be used in letters to “agents” so that if they were intercepted they could not be caught. Underground Railroad code was also used in songs sung by slaves to communicate among each other without their masters being aware” (Harriet Tubman Historical Society). Technology was not then as we know it now. Communication consisted of letters between “agents”, “conductors”, and “station masters” consisting of the location of the “stations” at which slaves were kept hidden (National Geographic Society, 2023). Their secret language was created by the abolitionists solely for the Underground Railroad while technical jargon and scientific notation were being created for the first steam engine.
Language was not the only tool utilized for the slaves’ salvation. Signals were also invented as a way to light the path such as “chimneys marked with a special row of white or variously colored bricks [that] assured the fugitive that the home beneath was really an underground railroad depot” (Gara, 1967). This evolving technology became a science that had