How to Escape
By: Ashrith Reddy
Determining Direction
The only way to find freedom is to go one direction, North. States in the North will have states that will help you go to Canada. There are several ways to determine what direction is North, for example , using the North Star(points North) or knowing that moss only grows on the North side of a tree( helpful during cloudy nights and that birds migrate North. The most reliable method during night is to look for the North Star and you can find it at the tip of the little Dipper.
Assistance
IF you require assistance there are many abolitionist societies present up north willing to help slaves travel to Canada such as in New York and MAssachussets. Other methods of assistance exist such as members of The Underground Railroad, they will hide you in secret locations and help you reach Canada.
Avoiding slave catchers and dogs
The only way to avoid dogs and their powerful noses is to cover your scent perhaps by running through a stream because dogs cannot track scents in the water and hiding until they pass by. There will be many places of refuge once you go North and many families will help you sometimes both black and white.
Harriet Tubman
Helped many in the Underground Railroad.
Map of the Underground Railroad
A runaway slave
Smart escapes
Unlike Denmark Vesey and Nat Turner who led slave revolts that resulted in deaths of many blacks and some whites, the smartest way to resist the white man is to escape quietly. The white man might argue with abolitionists that slavery is a peculiar insitution, and will benefit the economy ,but you know the truth. The truth is that for any small mistake, any overseer in the Black Belt will flog "darkies" till they're bloody.
Instructions:
So you are starting in Kentucky, from your town in Ripley travel at night and approach the Ohio River where there will be people from the Underground Railroad with canoes to help you cross. From there go to Columbus and then to Oberlin. There will be many abolitionists on the way sheltering you and feeding you. From there there will be several people willing to carry you across the Erie Lake to Canada where you will be a free man.