Alfre Woodard (Actor), Jeff Lengyel (Director) | Format: VHS Tape
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Review & Description
So many slaves escaped into freedom along a route that could not be ascertained that the slave owners said there must be an underground railroad under the Ohio River and on to the North." Abolitionist William Cockrum, 1854. Join descendants and scholars as we tell the story of America's first civil rights movement.No records were kept, but historians believe more than 100,000 slaves tried to escape their bondage before the Emancipation Proclamation. Most of those who made it to the relative safety of the north--or the wilderness, when slavery still reigned in the north--had help in the form of the Underground Railroad. Whites, free blacks, and Native Americans offered aid and shelter, though the notion of the Railroad as a kind of conspiracy of freedom, organized from north to south, is deeply flawed. Alfre Woodard links together interviews with historians, contemporary photographs, drawings, and dramatic reenactments to show the terrors of slavery and the travails of escape, exploding many of our myths along the way. The economic and political motivations behind many white abolitionists' feelings are explored, and while ultimately it didn't matter to a slave reaching out for liberty why it was offered, we are forced to reevaluate the selfless image of many "conductors." Still, freedom is freedom, and the History Channel's Underground Railroad tells its story well, inspiring respect for the generations of men and women who fought silently for it. --Rob Lightner Read more
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