Underground Railroad - Preface
First Chapter
View of the Underground Railroad town of Ripley, Ohio as seen from the Kentucky side of the Ohio River, c. 1846. With dogs and men in "hot pursuit," slaves would swim across the river to reach "freedom!" Illustration by Henry Howe. Image online, courtesy Library of Congress.
I looked at my hands
to see if I was the same person
now I was free.Harriet Tubman (1820-1913)
"Conductor" on the Underground Railroad, called the "Moses" of Her People
Ripley was a town that hated slavery. Maybe Tice Davids, a Kentucky runaway slave, knew that as he reportedly swam for his life across the Ohio River.
His white master wasn't far behind. With his eyes fixed on his "property," the owner furiously rowed across the river which separated free states (like Ohio) from slave states (like Kentucky).
What happened next, according to legend, gave a name to a movement.
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