The Underground Railroad is based on a true story of a secret network designed to help slaves escape. using a schooner called The Pearl.ĭespite their efforts, the boat was seized by a steamboat on the Chesapeake Bay near Maryland, before the slaves were sold to traders and brought to the Deep South. The Pearl incident of 1848 has been recorded as the largest escape attempt in US history, with 77 slaves attempting to flee Washington D.C. Women and children especially faced difficulties when escaping, as they were rarely allowed to leave the plantation. After escaping herself, she then took part in dozens of missions to help others to freedom in the North.īelieving slavery went against religious teachings, many of the volunteers were also Quakers, Reformed Presbyterians and Methodists. Harriet Tubman was one of the most famous conductors and was a member of the free Black community. So-called "conductors" were made up of free-born Black people, those who had previously been enslaved, white sympathisers and Native Americans. This could have jeopardised the integrity of the routes and the entire operation. The routes were communicated by abolitionist sympathisers and slaves, as there were no printed maps or guides. “He’s an artist who knows the beauty of the English language and uses it to great effect.Assisted by abolitionist sympathisers, the railroad consisted of secret routes and meeting points, as well as safe houses known as "stations". “I think Colson Whitehead is brilliant in many ways,” she said. And according to Dockray-Miller, while the novel focuses on the past, it has something to say to the present and the future. Ronderos noted that the novel’s style and voice are inherently modern. “This book creates an alternative reality but a reality that perhaps is not outside of reality.” That is, the essence of the story - from the brutality heaped on enslaved people to the ruthless hunting of escaped slaves - is depicted truthfully, even in the novel’s fantastical elements. While many label the novel as magical realism, Ronderos rejected that classification, saying it was too realistic. ![]() The man’s journey is the journey toward self-knowledge.”ĭockray-Miller noted literary influences, such as Frederick Douglass’s autobiography and “Gulliver’s Travels,” that appear in “The Underground Railroad,” but said, “he’s remixing it and making it his own.”Īssociate Professor Clara Ronderos suggested that Whitehead has created a literary trope for which there isn’t yet a term. “Usually in literary traditions, the woman’s journey is a journey toward love. “The feminist in me is cheering that Whitehead’s hero is a woman,” said Professor Mary Dockray-Miller. The story of Cora, however, does portray a woman on a journey. Those who did make it to free states weren’t guaranteed freedom due to laws that allowed southern property owners to claim runaway slaves. Slaves were largely illiterate, and the inability to decipher maps and signs added a layer of danger to the already treacherous trip. ![]() Young men, unencumbered by families, were most likely to reach freedom, but the journey was hard no matter the season - from scarcity of resources and cover in winter, to oppressive heat and disease-carrying bugs in the summer. “My biggest concern is that my students walk away thinking it was an actual train,” she joked, mentioning a reality TV star who was confused on that point.Ĭruz enumerated some facts about the true underground railroad, which was mostly run by “everyday black folks,” not white abolitionists, and which was primarily operated in states bordering free states, as it was too dangerous to run such an operation in more southern states. Whitehead employs creative license to great effect, but it can also lead to some confusion said Assistant Professor Tatiana Cruz. Needless to say, the journey, like those of real escapees, does not go smoothly. In particular, he writes the railroad as a physical, underground mode of transportation that conveys Cora from state to state. ![]() At first glance it seems like many a historical novel, but the Pulitzer Prize-winning Whitehead turns a number of familiar literary tropes upside down in his genre-bending story. The story centers on Cora, a young woman enslaved in Georgia who attempts to escape via the Underground Railroad. If you haven’t read it yet, here’s a summary. In anticipation of Colson Whitehead’s visit to campus, three Lesley professors held a symposium in Washburn Lounge to discuss fact, fiction and fantasy in the author’s acclaimed novel, “The Underground Railroad.” Approximately 40 students, faculty and staff participated in the event.
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