| The
new Underground Railroad Interpretive Center will open partially in late spring
2006, with the official opening in fall 2006. Our
partners meet regularly to inventory the rich history of our region and develop
a permanent gallery installation at the museum that will introduce visitors to
regional sites on the railroad with interactive displays for families, display
local artifacts, show videos of programming at various sites, and herald this
important era in our nation's history.
A portable unit, an extension of the exhibition, will open in the late spring
of 2006 and will be sent out to schools, community centers, and, in the summers,
to the Castellani Art Museum's satellite gallery in Niagara Falls. 
The Underground Railroad The "Underground Railroad" was the name given
to a vast, silent movement conceived and operated by humanitarians who defied
the Fugitive Slave Act because they believed it violated the inherent right of
human beings to be free. Without rails, locomotives, fixed schedules, stations,
or conductors, this "railroad" developed its own language. The "trains"
were the farm wagons that concealed and carried fugitives. The "tracks"
were the back county roads that were used to escape from the slave catchers. The
"stations" were the homes where the slaves were fed and cared for as
they moved along. The "conductors" were the fearless men and women who
led the slaves toward freedom, and the "passengers" or "parcels"
were the slaves who dared to seek liberty. Passengers paid no fare and conductors
received no pay.
Buffalo/Niagara's
Role
Two
major routes passed straight through Buffalo and Niagara Falls. The Interpretive
Center serves as a resource to the entire region, identifying and linking the
public to local and national sites that connected the "railroad" to
freedom from below the Mason Dixon line to Canada. Do
you, or your organization, own a piece of history?
Part
of our mission is to identify, classify and index all available resources such
as people, organizations, sites, reports, data, books, photographs, films, and
other information in any media or formatÑincluding oral historyÑthat relates to
the creation, operation, and history of the Underground Railroad in the Buffalo/
Niagara region. If you think you can help us with stories, artifacts or information,
please call CAM curator of folk arts, Kate Koperski, at 286-8293. We
are looking to raise funds-and friends. In
order to sustain and refresh a permanent and renewable exhibition capable of presenting
and interpreting the Underground Railroad within and beyond the Buffalo/Niagara
community. We are looking at ways to leverage the New York State Heritage grant
with other public/ private funding sources. Please
contact CAM director Laurene Buckley at 286.8200 for more details on how you can
help. Our
Site Partners
Lewiston
Council on the Arts
Murphy Orchards
Michigan Street Baptist Church Other
Partners
Black
Pioneers of Niagara
Freedom Trail Festival
Niagara Movement Foundation
Niagara Tourism and Convention Corporation (NTCC)
www.HeritageNY.gov Teachers!
Please
join us for school tours of the new Underground Railroad Interpretive Center Our
new interpretive center serves as an important resource for the entire region,
demonstrating the role that Greater Niagara played in the Underground Railroad
movement. The
exhibition includes historical documents; photographs of activists, "safe
houses," and crossing sites; artifacts; and videos. School tours: Tours include
hands-on activities and a library of children's books pertaining to the Underground
Railroad. Teachers may request to have a story read during their visit. For a
guided tour for your class, call 286.8200. Pre-Visit
Suggestions:
To
make your trip to the museum more exciting and relevant, we recommend that you
visit the following list of websites before your visit. Some of these contain
lesson plans, several of which address national and NY State learning standards.
For a bibliography of children's, early readers and young adult books, as well
as other related resources, please visit our website @ www.niagara.edu/cam. Standards-based
Lesson Plans:
The Castellani Art Museum is currently collaborating
with Niagara University's Education Department to develop its own series of NY
State standards-based lesson plans to accompany the exhibit. Look for these on
our website in early December 2006 at www.niagara.edu/cam as well as professional
development opportunities for teachers at the museum. Web
Sites: Harriet
Tubman and the Underground Railroad http://www2.lhric.org/pocantico/tubman/tubman.html/
History
of the Underground Railroad in Northern NY (See Lesson Plan #8) http://www.seawaytrail.com/lessonplans.asp
The
Underground Railroad from the National Park Service http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/travel/underground
The
Underground Railroad from the History Channel http://www.historychannel.com/blackhistory/
National
Underground Railroad Freedom Center http://www.freedomcenter.org/exhibits/escape.html
Underground Railroad in New York
http://www.nyhistory.com/ugrr The
Queens Historical Society offers both a supplemental American history textbook,
The Road to Freedom: The Underground Railroad, New York and Beyond, for 7th grade
and up, and document-based teaching aids for 4th grade teachers.
http://www.queenshistoricalsociety.org/documented.html
The
National Geographic web site offers an interactive journey on the Underground
Railroad and a number of classroom activities
www.nationalgeographic.com/railroad
William
Still Underground Railroad Foundation, Inc. Site includes biographies of a number
of abolitionists.
www.undergroundrr.com/foundation/resources.htm The
Friends of Freedom Society- Ohio Underground Railroad Association http://Ohioundergroundrailroad.org
Maps-
Ex. Slavery in the US (1775-1865) Voices from the Days of Slavery (Library of
Congress)
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/voices/ Born
in Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers Project (Library of Congress
)
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/snhtml/snhome.html African-American Women, Online
Archival Collections (Duke University) http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/collections/african-american-women.html
African
American Sheet Music, 1820-1920 (Brown University) http://dl.lib.brown.edu/sheetmusic/afam/index.html
African
American Newspapers: The 19th Century (Accessible Archives)*subscription only
http://www.accessible.com/default.htm Slavery
and the Making of America
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/slavery/ Slavery
in New York (New York Historical Society)
http://www.slaveryinnewyork.org/
History
Matters: The U.S. Survey on the Web (George Mason University) Designed for high
school and college teachers and students, History Matters serves as a gateway
to web resources and offers other useful materials for teaching U.S. history.
http://www.historymatters.gmu.edu ED
Sitement: The Best of the Humanities on the Web (National Endowment for the Humanities
& the Marco Polo Foundation)
http://edsitement.neh.gov OTHER
RESOURCES Carlson,
Judy. Great Lives: Harriet Tubman, Call to Freedom. NY: Ballantine Books, 1988.
* Teacher's Guide Carson,
Mary Kay. The Underground Railroad for Kids: from Slavery to Freedom (includes
21 activities). Chicago: Review Press, c 2005. Lawrence,
Jacob. Harriet and the Promised Land. (Video) Thursday Recordings for Spoken Arts.
(Also a paperback by Aladdin.) Petry,
Ann. Harriet Tubman: Conductor on the Underground Railroad. Prince Frederick,
MD: Recorded Books, c 1999. ( 5 audio cassettes (6.5 hrs.) : analog. Harriet Tubman
House, Auburn, NY Historical
Overview
Attempts
to escape from bondage, and to abolish slavery, date back to the founding of the
United States. These efforts began to solidify as an organized movement of African
Americans and their white supporters during the 1820s. By the 1840s, the Underground
Railroad emerged as both a political movement that protested slavery and as a
covert strategy for assisting those escaping to freedom. Many
pivotal members of the Underground Railroad Movement were African Americans who
had personally experienced the injustice and brutality of enslavement. Their white
supporters were often motivated by liberal religious and social beliefs. Despite
these crucial differences, the Abolitionist and Underground Railroad movements
brought black and white Americans together in a common causeÑfor the first time
in our nation's history. How
the Underground Railroad Worked
The
Underground Railroad was a secret network of people, both black and white, who
assisted those escaping slavery by providing money, food, clothing, temporary
shelter, and transportation. By the mid-1800s this clandestine operation extended
throughout the country. Participants in the movement used the language of the
railroad to ensure secrecyÑand their safety. The escape routes were called "lines,"
safe houses were "stations," those who assisted the slaves were "conductors,"
and fugitives were identified as "freight." The
Underground Railroad in Greater Niagara
Upstate
New York became a hotbed of Underground Railroad activity, as escaping slaves
made their way to crossing points along the Niagara River with the help of local
"conductors." In Buffalo, Niagara Falls, and Lewiston, the river narrows
to less than a half-mile journey to the shores of Canada. Southeastern Canada
had been a safe haven for fugitive slaves since 1793, when the governor of Ontario
signed an Anti-Slavery Act. In Canada, escapees believed they would be safe from
the oppressive laws of the United States and from bounty hunters, who would not
dare cross the international border. It
was more than upstate New York's proximity to Canada that contributed to its importance
in the Underground Railroad movement. Progressive political and social movements
flourished in many regions of New York State. Organized opposition to slavery
began in 1799, and a state law banning slavery was passed on July 4, 1827. Records
show that there were 274 anti-slavery societies in New York State, many of them
active in the cities, towns, and villages of Erie and Niagara counties. | 
