Geography and Key locations
These capital cities in Upstate New York were key stops on the Underground Railroad and home to Black churches that sheltered fugitives.
What are Albany and Syracuse?
The Underground Railroad wasn’t a literal railroad. It was this type of system made up of people, routes, and safe houses.
What is a network?
This famous abolitionist was the editor of the North Star and is known to have spoken in Syracuse, Albany, and Rochester.
Who is Frederick Douglass?
A religious sect that were the first abolitionists in North America.
A Federal law that required the return of escaped enslaved people and penalized those who aided them.
What is the Fugitive Slave Act (1850)?
Though not discussed yet in class, this western New York city near Canada played a major role as a final stop before freedom.
What is Buffalo?
These two key types of institutions—churches and homes—were commonly used as this for fugitives.
What are safe houses or stations?
Escaped from slavery and led at least 70 people to freedom, including her parents.
Who is Harriett Tubman?
William Lloyd Garrison and David Ruggles’s abolitionist efforts were deeply rooted in this philosophy advocating immediate emancipation.
What is radical abolitionism?
State laws in the North designed to protect free and formerly enslaved people by countering the Fugitive Slave Act.
What are Personal Liberty Laws?
The border region between western New York and Canada that served as a crucial crossing point for freedom seekers.
What is the Niagara Frontier?
The Underground Railroad’s success relied on secrecy and coded language, such as referring to runaways as this.
what are passengers?
Abolitionist leader and first Black woman to publish, edit, and run a newspaper in North America.
Who is Mary Ann Shadd Cary?
This term describes the refusal to comply with laws that are seen as morally wrong.
What is civil disobedience?
A widespread institution that provided practical assistance & support to the Underground Railroad.
What are churches?
A key destination for freedom seekers after 1850, where British law guaranteed freedom.
What is Canada West (Ontario)?
A person who guided freedom seekers between safe houses or across dangerous terrain.
What is a conductor?
Freeborn African American writer and lecturer on slavery and women’s rights.
Who is Frances Watkins Ellen Harper?
Douglass and Garnet believed slavery would never end without this form of resistance—speeches, newspapers, even force.
What is active resistance?
Local networks—often led by free Black activists—organized to protect, hide, and assist fugitives from slavery.
What is a Vigilance Committee?
According to Douglass, this was a moral and political act—not just a flight from bondage.
A place of refuge along the Underground Railroad—often a home, barn, or church—where fugitives could rest, hide, and receive aid.
What is a station / Safe House?
Quaker, abolitionist, and women's rights activist; co-founder of the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society.
Who is Lucretia Mott?
The formal act of an enslaver granting freedom to an enslaved person, often through a deed or will.
What is manumission?
An individual—Black or white—committed to ending slavery in the United States
What is an abolitionist?