"RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!"
(Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad)
for grades 6-8
by Lori Lyn Anderson Links by Angie Reed
Click here to learn more about Harriet Tubman
A vacation on the underground railroad? Be sure to click on Underground Railroad to find out more!
"Swing low, sweet chariot! Comin' for to carry me home! Swing low, sweet chariot! Comin' for to carry me home!" As a young teenager, I distinctly remember singing the words to this familiar spiritual as I strenuously picked cotton in the fields of Maryland. Was there any opportunity for me to escape? Would I ever leave this horrible place and be capable of living a normal life filled with freedom? As I was picking cotton one day, I heard the old familiar words to this spiritual. "Comin' for to carry me home." As I was singing this song, I heard the words change, and I struggled to gather what was meant by the other slaves. It was a message! I decoded the message as a possibility to escape this trap of slavery! Could this be true? I understood the directions clear as day, and I wanted to run and jump just at the thought of being free! I quickly regained composure, realizing I could tell no one of my plan to escape, not even my family. Little did I know that the next day would change my life forever.
Nighttime came and so did the messenger I had heard about in the counterfeit words of "Swing low, sweet chariot." I specifically remember her dressed in old clothes with a red bandanna tied around her head. She looked as if she were a seventy year old woman by the way she staggered as she walked with her beat up wooden cane. This was no mistake. This had to be the slave deliverer. The night was pitch black, cold, and a bit drizzly. I was dressed in everything I owned, which consisted of a pair of black tights, a long flowing skirt, a worn out button down sweater, and a pair of black beat up slip-on shoes. I slowly walked up to the woman, waiting for a response. The old woman said the one word that took away any doubt in my mind. "Railroad." We quietly walked out of town until there was not even a dim light to lead our way. At that time, the old woman took off her bandanna, and to my great surprise, she was a teenager no older than myself! "Hurry! My name is Harry, and I am here to set you free!" I was astonished, but ran as hard as I could to keep up with my new found friend, whom I later named, "Angel." She explained to me that although I may have heard of the underground railroad, a railroad did not actually exist. She told me there were certain houses chosen to be a part of the slave hideouts as they ran for their freedom. The "Underground Railroad" was just a term given to the getaway routes for the slaves. She also informed me that the Quakers played a big part in hiding slaves and sending them on their way to the next house in order to escape to the states void of slavery. I ran and ran with "Angel" for fifteen long miles until we reached the next safe house where we would rest for the day hidden in a closed cellar. Night after night we would do the same thing. The cycle was absolutely exhausting. We would rest during the daylight and leave late at night and run for ten to thirty miles in the pitch black darkness, praying we would not be found by one of the many slave owners who were looking for us.
Eventually "Angel" and I made it to the "land of the free." We did it! I was free from the bondage of slavery forever! "Angel" was my heroine from the first time I met her dressed as an elderly woman to the day we both declared freedom in the streets of Pennsylvania. Not only did "Angel" save the life I never thought I would live, but also the lives of hundreds of other neglected slaves. "Angel" went back to Maryland nineteen different times and delivered over three hundred slaves. "Angel" is now gone, but the memory of her lifetime goal of freedom and her sacrificial love for unfortunate and needy people will live on for many generations to come. "Angel" undoubtedly touched my life, and I am sure in different ways has touched yours.
Click here to let Harriet Tubman's personal motto inspire you!
"RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!" Review Sheet
Please answer the following questions based on the story "Run For Your Lives!" Think through the questions carefully and try to place yourself in the writer's position. Answer how you would actually feel in this situation. This will be graded on thoroughness and creativity. Some answers may vary. Please write on another sheet of paper and attach it to this worksheet.
1. What state did the writer escape from, and where did she
escape to?
2. Why do you think they ran from one state to another? Would it have mattered which state they ran to? Why or why not?
3. What exactly is the "Underground Railroad?"
4. How would you feel if you thought you were able to escape, but unable to tell your family? What would you have done?
5. Do you feel it was ethically and morally correct or incorrect for the Quakers to hide the runaway slaves? Why or why not?
I. "RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!" by Lori Lyn Anderson
II. Outline:
A. Sing "Swing low, sweet chariot" at the introduction of the story.
B. The words of the song change to become a message.
C. "Harry" the messenger comes.
D. We run to the "Underground Railroad."
E. Freedom at last!
F. Description of "Angel," my heroine.
*PROPS: black tights, long flowy skirt, button down sweater, black slip-on shoes.
III. Answers to the worksheet:
A. Maryland/ Pennsylvania
B. One state was free, and the other one was not. Yes, it would have mattered which state they ran to because not all of the states were free sates. It would not be logical to run from one slavery state to another.
C. The "Underground Railroad" was a series of houses lined up ten to thirty miles apart which hid the runaway slaves. There was no actual railroad, but it was rather a route designed mainly by the Quakers to enable slaves to escape from the slavery state to a state of freedom.
D. Answers will vary. Personal position regarding the importance of truth and the family.
E. Answers will vary. This can be used as a good class
debate question. Discuss the differences of answers.
IV. Sources:
A. Internet:
hhtp://www.encarta.msn.com/schoolhouse/civilwar/tubman.htm
hhtp://www.encarta.msn.com/schoolhouse/civilwar/railroad.htm
hhtp://www.encarta.msn.com/schoolhouse/civilwar/slavery1.asp
hhtp://www.encarta.msn.com/schoolhouse/civilwar/slavery2.asp
B. Books:
Bradford, Sarah. Harriet Tubman: the Moses of Her
People. New York: Corinth Books, 1961.
Elkins, Stanley M. Slavery: a Problem in American
Institutional and Intellectual Life. Chicago:
University of Chicago Press, 1959.
C. Interviewed a Junior Cedarville College student with a Social Science Education major. Name: Melinda Jane Pickell from Birmingham, Alabama.
V. Extension activities:
A. Divide the class into groups and have them come up with a skit acting out a part of the story, "Run For Your Life!"
B. Have the students interview Harriet Tubman. (I would dress up like Harriet Tubman and answer various questions and have an open discussion).
C. Have each student write up their own historical fiction
story one to two pages in length. This could be done in class or for extra credit.