What was the Underground Railroad?
- A secret tunnel under Montreal
- A supply route in the War of 1812
- An anti-slavery network that helped thousands of slaves escape from the United States to Canada
- The first railway built across Canada
Answer: An anti-slavery network that helped thousands of slaves escape from the United States to Canada
The Underground Railroad was a Christian anti-slavery network. Through it, thousands of slaves escaped from the United States, followed “the North Star” and settled in Canada.
Learn more: Ending slavery
- The first movement to abolish the transatlantic slave trade began in the British Parliament in the late 1700s.
- In 1793 Upper Canada, led by Lieutenant Governor John Graves Simcoe, became the first province in the Empire to move toward abolishing slavery.
- Simcoe, a Loyalist military officer, was Upper Canada’s first Lieutenant Governor and founded the City of York (now Toronto).
- In 1807 the British Parliament banned the buying and selling of slaves.
- In 1833 Britain abolished slavery throughout the Empire.
- Thousands of slaves escaped from the United States, followed “the North Star” and settled in Canada through the Underground Railroad, a Christian anti-slavery network.
- Mary Ann (Shadd) Carey, an anti-slavery activist, became the first woman publisher in Canada in 1853. She helped found and edit The Provincial Freeman, a weekly newspaper.