The Underground Railroad
Quick Summary
Colson Whitehead's novel, The Underground Railroad, reimagines the historical network used by enslaved African Americans to escape to freedom in the North or Canada. This secret system, active before the Civil War, utilized sympathetic Northerners and abolitionists to aid fugitives, employing railway terms for its operations. The novel follows a slave catcher pursuing an enslaved girl who escapes via these actual underground railroad tracks. Whitehead's work, which won both a Pulitzer Prize and a National Book Award, explores themes of racism and the enduring legacy of slavery. The historical Underground Railroad, while not literally underground or a railroad, was a crucial clandestine operation that significantly influenced Northern sentiment against slavery.12
Ask Britannica AI about this topic
Britannica doesn't have a full article on this topic, so we've curated a list of our relevant coverage.
