by Todd Byrd The eleventh grade class at the Model Secondary School for the Deaf sat enthralled last fall as the students heard the tale of an African American man on the run, following the well-known Underground Railroad that took slaves to Canada and to freedom. What made this story even more exciting is that it was being told firsthand by a man who actually made the trip. Last spring, Anthony Cohen, a 32-year-old historian, retraced the route of the Underground Railroad. His adventure attracted a flurry of media attention, including Smithsonian magazine, which documented his travels in its October issue, and the "Oprah Winfrey" television show. Cohen's experience fit in perfectly with the American history theme that the eleventh graders are focusing on this year, particularly since they were covering the topics of slavery, the Civil War, and the reconstruction era at the time. The historian, who lives in the Washington, D.C., area, was happy to talk to the class, and to the ninth grade class, which is studying diversity, as well. An estimated 30,000 to 100,000 slaves escaped to Canada between the 1830s and the end of the Civil War following the Underground Railroad. Untold numbers of other slaves found their way to freedom by escaping to Mexico, Europe, Africa, or other places that welcomed them. But because there is relatively little documented information about the railroad, Cohen had to piece together the route by reading diaries from slaves and their ancestors, wills, newspaper articles, letters, and court notices. Cohen began his journey in Sandy Spring, Md., on May 4 and ended it eight weeks and 800 miles later in Amherstberg, Ontario, Canada. Some of the miles were covered by train and boat, even by horse and buggy, but most of the excursion was done on foot--the common conveyance used by the slaves. Like the slaves, Cohen followed many remote backwoods trails that crossed mountains and fields, stream and river beds. His concession to authenticity was that he usually traveled during the day. When evening came, he would call on Quaker families--well known for helping slaves on the Underground Railroad--in the area. Without fail, he said, someone of the faith would take him home to have dinner and spend the night, then take him back the next morning to resume his travels. The willingness of people to help a total stranger was inspiring, said Cohen: "It made me see that the spirit of the Underground Railroad is still alive." People often comment that Cohen, through his travels, must surely know what it felt like to be a slave following the Underground Railroad. "Absolutely not," is his reply. He explained to the Pre-College students that he could not know the terror and anxiety experienced by slaves, faced by the very real possibility that they could be captured and dragged back home to face punishment and even death. His closest call to that experience came when he was packed in a wooden box and smuggled aboard an Amtrak train for a hot, cramped, and at times, terrifying ride from Philadelphia to New York City. That harrowing experience was the result of trying to recreate the desperate flight to freedom of a Richmond, Va., slave who made a 26-hour ride aboard a train in a box; at one point, the box turned upside down, and he traveled on his head. Cohen's trip was only 5 1/2 hours, but it was made during a heat wave in which the temperature rose to more than 125 degrees in the unventilated box. Adding to his discomfort, the box was place unsecured in an open freight car that with each bounce threatened to toss Cohen out into the countryside. When asked by a student what the trek taught him, Cohen replied, "I learned that people are intrinsically good by nature and want to help." He also said he learned that most people--black and white--have strong feelings against slavery. After the presentation, Cohen and his audience stayed on to watch an original play on the Underground Railroad Escape from Slavery put on by Marcia Freeman's eleventh grade drama class. Carol Beckman's home economics class hosted a reception, serving typical breads prepared in southern kitchens during the 1850s to 1870s. Under PCNMP's new structure, each grade has a special study theme for the year; the eleventh grade's is American history. Students have also undertaken several other studies and projects related to the Civil War era in their other classes. For example, students in Del Wynne's science class made soap. Marilyn Farmer and Ron Baldi's English/social studies classes wrote an additional chapter to Drinking Gourd, F.N. Monjo's book about Quakers who help a family escape slavery. And Charles Welsh-Charrier and Naomi Zowader's English/social studies class read a biography of Frederick Douglass, one of the main leaders in the abolitionist movement.
http://www.ugrr.org/
Last modified November 9, 1998
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