{"id":7018,"date":"2025-05-14T04:04:00","date_gmt":"2025-05-14T04:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/coloredconventions.org\/black-illinois-organizing\/?page_id=7018"},"modified":"2026-08-28T16:24:16","modified_gmt":"2026-08-28T20:24:16","slug":"underground-railroad","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/coloredconventions.org\/black-illinois-organizing\/chicago\/underground-railroad\/","title":{"rendered":"The Underground Railroad"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div style=\"height:15px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-123143e5 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\" style=\"padding-right:300px\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">From the late 1830s onward, Chicago was known as a place where Black residents and white allies opened their doors to freedom seekers and helped secure their safe passage to Canada. It was a city where crowds regularly assembled to stop slavecatchers from seizing people and forcing them back into bondage.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Some rescues followed the letter of the law. In one instance,<a href=\"https:\/\/coloredconventions.org\/black-illinois-organizing\/delegates\/john-jones\/\"> John Jones<\/a> helped rescue a man named Albert Pettit. Pettit had escaped slavery in Tennessee. His enslaver chased him all the way to Chicago, but then declared his willingness to sell Pettit for a price. Jones, according to one account, \u201cwent among his friends\u201d and raised funds to buy Pettit\u2019s freedom. The contract Jones signed with Petit\u2019s enslaver called human bondage \u201cthe sum of all villainies,\u201d and stated: In \u201cconsideration of the love and affection I bear to the said Albert as a member of the family of man, I hereby release, relinquish and discharge to the said Albert any and every claim I may have to his body, soul or services . . . [and] declare him free from all personal obligations to me except such obligations as are due from every man to his fellow by the common law of humanity.\u201d[1]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Underground Railroad Stops in Chicago<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>This map of Chicago depicts the network of known Underground Railroad stops in Chicago.<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-archivo-font-family wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"font-style:italic;font-weight:300\">\u00bb <em>Click on the red dots on the map below to view the \u201cconductors\u201d or \u201cstation masters\u201d of each stop.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<!-- iframe plugin v.6.0 wordpress.org\/plugins\/iframe\/ -->\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Underground Railroad Stops in Chicago\" src=\"\/\/northwestern.maps.arcgis.com\/apps\/Embed\/index.html?webmap=fd39c2aeceb541fe8abc176e8c062a10&#038;extent=-87.6567,41.8636,-87.6128,41.8898&#038;zoom=true&#038;previewImage=false&#038;scale=true&#038;disable_scroll=true&#038;theme=light\" width=\"100%\" height=\"500\" scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe>\n\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-123143e5 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\" style=\"padding-right:300px\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"padding-right:300px\">\n<div style=\"height:15px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The day-to-day workings of the \u201cUnderground Railroad\u201d were necessarily secretive. In 1853, however, John Jones described some of those activities in a letter to <em>Frederick Douglass\u2019 Paper. <\/em>\u201cThe underground Railroad is doing a fair business this season\u201d he wrote. \u201cWe received eleven passengers last night, and two the night before.\u201d[2]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Black Chicagoans were known for their readiness to shelter fugitives. Black women\u2019s contributions often went unmentioned in public accounts, but oral historical traditions preserved the memory of a group of leading women. Known as the \u201cBig Four,\u201d these women were associated with Quinn Chapel and gained renown for their tireless work helping on behalf of freedom seekers. Though the identities of some of these women are uncertain, one possible member was a woman referred to in an early history of Chicago as \u201cAunt Charlotte.\u201d The author of that history, a white woman, remembered one instance in which Aunt Charlotte daringly sheltered more than a dozen fugitives in her home. She kept the house shuttered and dark until two in the morning, when the freedom-seekers arose and continued their journey. Emma Jane Atkinson, another of the Big Four, helped a fugitive disguise herself by blackening her red-colored hair with soot. That woman managed to elude her enslaver and escape to freedom.[3]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:15px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-08838d79 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\" style=\"padding-right:var(--wp--preset--spacing--40);padding-left:var(--wp--preset--spacing--30)\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figure data-wp-context=\"{&quot;imageId&quot;:&quot;6aebf7aca919d&quot;}\" data-wp-interactive=\"core\/image\" data-wp-key=\"6aebf7aca919d\" class=\"wp-block-image size-full wp-lightbox-container\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"760\" height=\"581\" data-wp-class--hide=\"state.isContentHidden\" data-wp-class--show=\"state.isContentVisible\" data-wp-init=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on--click=\"actions.showLightbox\" data-wp-on--load=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on--pointerdown=\"actions.preloadImage\" data-wp-on--pointerenter=\"actions.preloadImageWithDelay\" data-wp-on--pointerleave=\"actions.cancelPreload\" data-wp-on-window--resize=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" src=\"https:\/\/coloredconventions.org\/black-illinois-organizing\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/28\/2022\/01\/CCP_153_LibertyLine-1844.jpeg\" alt=\"A newpaper advertisement for the Liberty Liberty showing a train travel through a tunnel in a mountain\" class=\"wp-image-5658\" srcset=\"https:\/\/coloredconventions.org\/black-illinois-organizing\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/28\/2022\/01\/CCP_153_LibertyLine-1844.jpeg 760w, https:\/\/coloredconventions.org\/black-illinois-organizing\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/28\/2022\/01\/CCP_153_LibertyLine-1844-300x229.jpeg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 760px) 100vw, 760px\" \/><button\n\t\t\tclass=\"lightbox-trigger\"\n\t\t\ttype=\"button\"\n\t\t\taria-haspopup=\"dialog\"\n\t\t\tdata-wp-bind--aria-label=\"state.thisImage.triggerButtonAriaLabel\"\n\t\t\tdata-wp-init=\"callbacks.initTriggerButton\"\n\t\t\tdata-wp-on--click=\"actions.showLightbox\"\n\t\t\tdata-wp-style--right=\"state.thisImage.buttonRight\"\n\t\t\tdata-wp-style--top=\"state.thisImage.buttonTop\"\n\t\t>\n\t\t\t<svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"12\" height=\"12\" fill=\"none\" viewBox=\"0 0 12 12\">\n\t\t\t\t<path fill=\"#fff\" d=\"M2 0a2 2 0 0 0-2 2v2h1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 1 .5-.5h2V0H2Zm2 10.5H2a.5.5 0 0 1-.5-.5V8H0v2a2 2 0 0 0 2 2h2v-1.5ZM8 12v-1.5h2a.5.5 0 0 0 .5-.5V8H12v2a2 2 0 0 1-2 2H8Zm2-12a2 2 0 0 1 2 2v2h-1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 0-.5-.5H8V0h2Z\" \/>\n\t\t\t<\/svg>\n\t\t<\/button><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-small-font-size wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>\u201cLiberty Line,\u201d 1844<br><\/strong>This advertisement for the \u201cLiberty Line,\u201d or Underground Railroad, appeared in the Chicago abolitionist paper&nbsp;<em>The Western Citizen&nbsp;<\/em>on July 18, 1844. (Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/digitalcollections.nypl.org\/items\/510d47dd-f68e-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99\">From The New York Public Library<\/a>.)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:15px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/coloredconventions.org\/black-illinois-organizing\/delegates\/mary-richardson-jones\/\">Mary Richardson Jones<\/a> helped make the Jones\u2019 home renowned as a haven for freedom seekers. She later remembered opening their doors to the radical, John Brown, when he passed through Chicago. She also recalled receiving funding for the transportation of fugitives from Alan Pinkerton, another white abolitionist.[4]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The history of Chicago contains countless stories of collective organizing to secure people\u2019s freedom. Some involved crowd actions. For instance, in 1854, a slavecatcher who had traveled to Chicago in search of three people who had fled bondage in Missouri reported that when he spotted one of the escapees on the street, a \u201cboy gave the alarm, and in less than ten minutes there was a mob of from one to three thousand persons on the ground.\u201d The crowd kept the fugitives safe and ran the slavecatchers out of town, declaring that nobody could \u201ctake a negro from Chicago.\u201d[5]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Sources<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">1. \u201cSlavery in Chicago,\u201d <em>Inter-Ocean, <\/em>June 28, 1891.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">2. John Jones, \u201cFrederick Douglass: My Much Esteemed Friend,\u201d <em>Frederick Douglass Paper,<\/em> Nov. 18, 1853. Cheryl Janifer LaRoche explores overlap between Underground Railroad activism and participation in Black conventions, though her article forces on eastern states. See LaRoche, \u201cSecrets Well Kept: Colored Conventioneers and Underground Railroad Activism,\u201d in eds. P. Gabrielle Foreman, Jim Casey, and Sarah Lynn Patterson, <em>The Colored Conventions Movement: Black Organizing in the Nineteenth Century <\/em>(Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2021).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">3. Verna Lucille Cooley, \u201cIllinois and the Underground Railroad to Canada\u201d (M.A. thesis: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1917), 26; Christopher R. Reed, <em>Black Chicago\u2019s First Century: Volume 1, 1833-1900 <\/em>(Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 2005), 67; Caroline Kirkland, <em>Chicago Yesterdays: A Sheaf of Reminiscences <\/em>(Chicago: Daughaday and Company, 1919), 94-95; Brian Dolinar, ed., <em>The Negro in Illinois: The WPA Papers<\/em> (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2013), 32.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">4. Interview with Mary Richardson Jones in Rufus Blanchard, ed., <em>The Discovery and Conquests of the Northwest with the History of Chicago <\/em>(Chicago: R. Blanchard &amp; Co, 1900), 299-302.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">5. \u201cChicago Kidnapping Case,\u201d <em>Frederick Douglass\u2019 Paper,<\/em> Nov. 3, 1854.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Credits<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Written by Kate Masur.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:15px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>From the late 1830s onward, Chicago was known as a place where Black residents and white allies opened their doors to freedom seekers and helped secure their safe passage to Canada. It was a city where crowds regularly assembled to stop slavecatchers from seizing people and forcing them back into bondage.&nbsp; Some rescues followed the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":6829,"parent":7010,"menu_order":3,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-7018","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/coloredconventions.org\/black-illinois-organizing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7018","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/coloredconventions.org\/black-illinois-organizing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/coloredconventions.org\/black-illinois-organizing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coloredconventions.org\/black-illinois-organizing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coloredconventions.org\/black-illinois-organizing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7018"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/coloredconventions.org\/black-illinois-organizing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7018\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7860,"href":"https:\/\/coloredconventions.org\/black-illinois-organizing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7018\/revisions\/7860"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coloredconventions.org\/black-illinois-organizing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7010"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coloredconventions.org\/black-illinois-organizing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6829"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/coloredconventions.org\/black-illinois-organizing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7018"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}