Sample_Jr_Ranger_booklet_2_0001.pdf

National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom

Discovering the Underground Railroad

Junior Ranger Activity Book

National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior

Explore. Learn. Protect.

Complete activities in this booklet to learn about the Underground Railroad and become a Junior Ranger.

Junior Rangers ages 7 to 10

Complete at least 5 activities

Junior Rangers ages 10 and older

Complete 10 activities

H ow o ld are you?

W rite y o u r a ge in t h e c ir cl e

What is the Underground Railroad?

A cruel system of slavery existed in America long before the United States became a country. By 1850, over three million Black people living in the US were enslaved, meaning they were not treated like people at all. They were considered property that belonged to someone else.

Many enslaved people resisted slavery by running away. People called them

“fugitives” or “runaways” then, but we call them Freedom Seekers.

You cannot see or touch freedom or the Underground Railroad. They are ideas. The Underground Railroad refers to enslaved African Americans’ efforts to gain their freedom by escaping. The risks were big. Some went alone, others found help along the way. Over time, networks of brave people and places grew to help freedom seekers reach liberty.

What is the Network to Freedom?

The National Park Service honors the history of the Underground Railroad through the Network to Freedom.

The network connects hundreds of parks, museums, and historic sites throughout the country. All have stories to tell about freedom seekers and the people that helped them on their journeys. Learn more at www.nps.gov/UGRR

Speaking in Code The “Underground Railroad” is not an actual train operating along hidden railroad tracks. To keep their plans secret, freedom seekers borrowed words from the railways to create a code.

FILL IN THE BOXES with each number’s corresponding letter on the Code Key.

CODE KEY

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26

A _____ on the Underground Railroad guided freedom seekers on their journey.

3 15 14 4 21 3 20 15 18

Some fled to _____ communities, concealed in remote wooded areas and swamps.

13 1 18 15 15 14

Some freedom seekers escaped by land while others used _____, like rivers.

23 1 20 5 18 23 1 25 19

Over hundreds of years, tens of millions of Africans were kidnapped, held in bondage, and _____ in the Americas.

5 14 19 12 1 22 5 4

Many Underground Railroad _____ were religious people, like the Quakers, who helped freedom seekers by providing safe places, money, even legal help.

15 16 5 18 1 20 9 22 5 19

Escape Routes Wherever and whenever slavery existed, there were efforts to escape. For hundreds of years, escape routes spread throughout North America. They went in every direction and changed over time. Many freedom seekers traveled by land, while others went by water. The best routes were like a chain connecting good hiding places and people willing to help along the way.

M E X I C O

C A N A D A

C A R I B B E A N I S L A N D S

OR

CA MO

AR

LA

MS AL GA

SC

NC

FL

TX

IA

MN

WI

IL IN OH

KY

TN

PA

NY

VT

MA

RI

CT

NJ

DEMD

NH

ME

VA

MI

Washington Territory

Nebraska Territory

Kansas Territory

Utah Territory

New Mexico Territory

Unorganized Territory

Unorganized Territory

North

South

Your Home

PUT A STAR where you live. Was slavery allowed there in 1860?

Yes / No

Where would you go?

COLOR IN one slaveholding state on the map.

DRAW AN ARROW of the route you might use to escape slavery.

Would you travel on land or by water? _______________________

Why? _________________________

The Promised Land

After the Fugitive Slave Act of

1850, reaching a free state did not automatically mean freedom.

The law allowed slave catchers to capture and return freedom seekers back to slaveholding states.

This meant many people had to escape (again!) to countries beyond the US border.

Free States and Territories

Slaveholding States

Territories open to slavery

1860 USA Map

Freedom Stories We know about most freedom seekers in this book because they wrote about their lives. But for many more freedom seekers, we only know what their enslavers wrote in wanted ads like these.

Jacob Cummings’s journey to freedom was long, with many stops along the way. He used a ferry boat to escape slavery in

Chattanooga, Tennessee and headed north. He was captured a few times, even put in jail, but escaped each time. He lived in Indiana where he attended school for a year. After four years on the run, he crossed the river into Canada. There he met other freedom seekers from the US who had founded new communities in Canada. He became an operative on the

Underground Railroad, helping others reach freedom.

COURTE

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Jacob Cummings

Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park www.nps.gov/CHCH

What’s your story?

SHARE something about yourself in the box then DRAW your face in

The blue boxes throughout this book contain stories about real people that escaped slavery through the Underground Railroad.

The freedom seeker’s name is written in a gold star.

State shapes like this tell you where the freedom seeker started their journey. Some stories have ties to national parks , where you can learn more about the Underground Railroad.

My name is ____________________________

Harriet Jacobs

Born enslaved in Edenton, North Carolina, Harriet Jacobs showed patience and endurance in her pursuit of freedom. Harriet’s enslaver was a jealous and resentful man. To protect herself and her children, she escaped him. But she did not go far. For seven long years, Harriet hid in a tiny attic above her grandmother’s house. It was dark and she could not stand up. Her grandmother brought her food and she could watch her children from a small window. They lived in the house, not knowing their mother was hiding above. Finally, Harriet left the attic in 1842. She caught a ship at the Edenton waterfront, where African American watermen could arrange passage. From there, she sailed north to freedom. Though she had to move often for safety, she later reunited with her brother and her children. Her brother was active among abolitionists, people who worked to end slavery. He introduced Harriet to other abolitionists. One of her new friends, a Quaker woman named Amy Post, convinced Harriet to write a book about her life, which she called Incidents in the

Life of a Slave Girl. The book made Harriet famous in the abolition community. For the rest of her life, she used her voice to educate and help formerly-enslaved people.

Many freedom seekers escaped to the wilderness. Jim

Matthews often hid in the Four Holes Swamp near

Harleyville, South Carolina. He went there to rest, avoid whippings, or to heal from previous beatings.

While hiding there he met other freedom seekers that had fled nearby plantations. The swamp provided fresh water, plants for food and medicine, and good hunting and fishing. They created secret “maroon” communities and made permanent homes in the swamp. Jim did not stay though. He made his final escape and eventually settled in Maine. A newspaper published Jim’s narrative, Recollections of Slavery by a

Runaway Slave.

Jim Matthews

What would you call a book about your life?

A Place to Hide IMAGINE your favorite hiding place, or think about Harriet’s attic or Jim’s secret swamp community, then ANSWER the questions.

What makes your place good for hiding?

What does it SMELL like at your hiding place?

What can you SEE from where you are hidden?

What do you HEAR?

Is there food there? What does it TASTE like?

How long will you stay?

Is someone there to help you?

DRAW your hiding place.

Henry Bibb was born enslaved in Kentucky in 1815. As a teenager he escaped and was recaptured multiple times. But punishment did not stop his desire for freedom. At age 22, he escaped and made it all the way to Canada, with help from Underground

Railroad operatives. After two years, he returned to the US to retrieve his wife and daughter. This began a cycle of escape, separation, return, and recapture. Ultimately, he went back north alone and devoted himself to the movement to end slavery. He gave lectures and wrote a book about his life, which he hoped would “light up a path to freedom” for others. Henry helped other freedom seekers establish new lives north of the border. He created the Voice of the Fugitive, Canada’s first Black newspaper.

He also founded a refugee colony so formerly-enslaved people could live and work in a community of their own making.

Henry Walton Bibb

What would you name a newspaper?

Letters Home Writing was very important to

Henry Bibb.

Imagine being separated from your family like

Henry was.

FILL IN THE

BLANKS to write a letter home.

Dear , I left and am headed to where I can be free. I feel .

It is here.

I miss .

I hope that

Love always, VECTEEZY.COM

VECTEEZY.COM

GRAPHICS RF

Freedom Bag Imagine you hear that a “conductor” is coming to help your family escape.

The journey will be long and hard. You will need supplies.

CIRCLE the items you will take with you.

Why did you choose these items?

What else might you want to bring?

N s

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W

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WW

RIVER

STREAM

Heading South Long before the United States became its own nation, there were freedom seekers. European slavetraders brought kidnapped Africans to America, where different European countries had colonies. At that time, Spain controlled land that is now the state of Florida. To increase his own settlements and hurt his enemies, Spain’s king offered freedom to anyone that fled slavery and went to Spanish Florida. In return, they had to join the

Catholic Church and men had to join the Spanish army. Word spread around

English plantations and many freedom seekers headed south.

In 1738, a new fort and village was built especially for freedom seekers. Fort

Mosé is recognized as the first official free Black community in what is now the US. To make the fort, builders piled up dirt into mounded walls, then added wooden spikes, a moat, and prickly cactus.

NAME your fort:

DRAW your own fort and village.

Fort walls

Moat

Gardens and Crops

Houses

Cannon

Workshops

Lookout Tower

Be sure to include these:

My Fort Community

Mosé is pronounced “Moh- say”

COURTESY OF THE FLORIDA MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY-

HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY COLLECTIONS

Taken from his home in Africa, Francisco Menéndez was enslaved on a farm in the Carolina colony. He escaped and headed south to

St. Augustine in Spanish Florida, where he joined the Spanish army.

Francisco became the leader of an all-Black militia, made up of fellow freedom seekers. He earned the rank of Captain and led the new Fort Mosé and free Black community. With help from Native

American allies, his troops fought against English troops along the

Georgia and Florida coasts. The English destroyed Fort Mosé in

1740, but the community rebuilt it 12 years later. When Spain and

England signed a treaty and exchanged land, Francisco and the entire fort community left Florida to start a new town in Cuba.

Digging Your Job Researchers know what life was like at Fort Mosé based on objects, or artifacts, found buried where the fort once stood. Not everyone there was a soldier like Captain Menéndez. Whole families lived and worked there too.

Old tools, clothes, and more tell a lot about their daily lives.

DRAW A LINE from the object found at Fort Mose to the tradesperson that might have used it.

Dish es

Nails

Iro n buckle

M usket balls

Butto ns and Gunf int

Blacksmith forges objects of iron

Soldier serves in the military

Tailor makes and mends clothes

Carpenter builds or repairs wooden structures

Cook prepares food

Castillo de San Marcos National Monument www.nps.gov/CASA

Francisco Menéndez

What is an object you use everyday that tells people about your life?

OBJECT PHOTOS

©FLORIDA MUSEUM

The Crafty Crafts

Ellen & William Craft

Use the word bank below to FILL IN THE BLANKS and complete the Freedom Story.

To escape slavery William and Ellen Craft boarded a _ _ _ _ _ in Macon, Georgia. The couple pretended to be a sickly wealthy white man and his servant. Ellen cut her _ _ _ _ short, dressed in men’s clothing, and wore a top hat and dark _ _ _ _ _ _ _ . William posed as an attentive servant accompanying his master, who was in desperate need of medical treatment. They arrived in _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ on Christmas Day 1848.

Abolitionists met them and helped them go to Boston to live with other freedom seekers.

Their former _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ , Dr. Robert Collins, hired slave hunters to bring the Crafts back to Georgia. Boston citizens and authorities chased them away, but Dr.

Collins wrote a letter to the _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ of the United States complaining that the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 gave him the right to take William and Ellen back.

So the Crafts escaped again! They took a _ _ _ _ across the ocean, all the way to

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ where they could enjoy their freedom and start a family.

After the Civil War was over and slavery made illegal, William and Ellen returned to Georgia to help formerly- _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ people begin new lives.

Philadelphia train enslaver glasses boat

England enslaved hair

President

Crafty Crafts Word Bank

Ell en Cra ft

W illia m C ra ft

Like the Crafts, many freedom seekers wore disguises to fool people and avoid capture.

Convincing Costumes

DRAW yourself in a disguise.

A Dangerous Trek

Wallace Turnage

After an unfair punishment and brutal lashings, Wallace Turnage decided to escape enslavement. Wallace walked 25 miles through southern Alabama during the Civil

War. He trekked through snake-filled swamps, mosquito-infested marshlands, and alligator-lined waterways. He snuck past dangerous Confederate troops. Though hungry and frightened, his freedom was worth the risks. After surviving for weeks in the Fowl River estuary, he paddled an old rowboat into Mobile Bay. US Navy sailors saved him from drowning and took him to Fort Gaines. Since the military would not return freedom seekers to their enemy, Wallace was free! He provided the US soldiers helpful information about the Confederate forces he saw on his long journey. He stayed with the army employed as an officer’s cook.

Help Wallace Turnage get through the MAZE and find freedom at Fort Gaines.

START VECTEEZY.COM

FORT

GAINES

When March Haynes’ enslaver joined the Confederate Army, he took March with him to Fort Pulaski. A year later the US Army seized the fort and freed all the enslaved workers. March stayed and used his knowledge of the Savannah River and waterways to help others reach freedom at the fort. He became a conductor with a boat, going on daring night time missions. He brought back not only people, but information about enemy troops.

Freedom Stories of the Civil War Arguments around slavery led the country to Civil War. Some Americans wanted slavery to end, while others wished to expand it. In 1861, eleven southern states tried to leave and start their own pro-slavery nation. The US military fought to keep the country together. What began as a war to save the

Union became a war of liberation, leading to a long struggle for civil rights.

As one of the most famous conductors, Harriet Tubman is known for freeing family and friends from slavery in

Maryland. But her most successful mission happened in

South Carolina during the Civil War. In 1862, the governor of Massachusetts sent Harriet south to be a scout, nurse, and spy for the US Army. On June 2, 1863, Harriet, two regiments of US Colored Troops and their colonel navigated gunboats up the Combahee River on a secret mission.

The Combahee River Raid freed over 700 enslaved people from rice plantations. The raid was the first time in US history that a woman (notably, a Black woman!) led men into battle.

Harriet Tubman

March Haynes

Reconstruction Era National Historical Park www.nps.gov/REER

THE N

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National Monument www.nps.gov/FOPU

Later, he and his wife moved to South Carolina, where March served with the US Colored Troops.

Contraband to Colored Troops As federal troops advanced in the South, their camps and forts became destinations for freedom seekers. Formerly-enslaved men, women, and children that arrived at the military posts became known as “contraband.”

They set up camps alongside the soldiers. Many worked for the military while living at contraband camps, finally getting paid for their hardwork.

Patriotic slogans and symbols, like eagles and flags, filled army recruitment posters. DESIGN YOUR OWN poster encouraging freedom seekers to join the US Colored Troops.

Camp Nelson www.nps.gov/CANE

Thousands of enslaved Black men escaped and joined the US Army, eventually forming the US Colored

Troops. Enlistment became a sure path to freedom.

POSTERS COURTESY

LIBRARY COMPANY OF

PHILADELPHIA

LI

BR

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O F

C O

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SS

Robert Smalls was born enslaved in Beaufort, SC. His enslaver sent young Robert to work on the docks of Charleston, where he learned all about ships and the Charleston harbor. Robert piloted the CSS

Planter, which became a Confederate military ship during the Civil

War. Robert came up with a plan to escape using the boat and waited for the perfect moment. On May 12, 1862, the Planter’s white officers decided to spend the night ashore. About 3:00 am, Robert and his fellow enslaved crewman stole the ship and made a run for

it. Dressed in the captain’s uniform and straw hat, Robert sailed the

Planter out of the wharf, stopping to pick up his and the crewman’s families too. Robert drove the ship to US Navy blockade boats and became a (free!) hero. His accomplishment was celebrated in the

North and among African Americans everywhere. He dedicated his life to achieving equality for all and held a variety of public offices, including a seat in the United States Congress.

Robert Smalls

Fort Sumter and Fort Moultrie National Historical Park www.nps.gov/FOSU Robert Smalls had many jobs during his life, including in US Congress.

What do you want to be?

Black watermen and sailors played an important role in the

Atlantic shipping world. Most of the enslaved people who lived on the coast, worked on the water. It was part of daily life.

They piloted vessels and loaded cargo on and off boats. Most important, they played key roles in the escapes of freedom seekers. One of the largest escapes occurred on September

21, 1862, when 22 freedom seekers stole three sailboats. One of the freedom seekers was William Benjamin Gould. Rowing all night, they covered 28 miles on the river. After sneaking past Confederate-held Fort Caswell, they finally reached US

Navy ships. Now free, the group joined the US Navy. For three years afterward, William chronicled the day-to-day life of his

Navy experiences. He kept the only known Civil War diary of a formerly-enslaved Black soldier.

William Benjamin Gould

Navigating Dangerous Waters Both William Gould and Robert Smalls travelled the Underground Railroad by boat, at night, on dangerous waters, under the noses of Confederate troops.

Follow Robert’s journey. COMPLETE EACH TASK along the way.

With the white officers onshore for the night, Robert and his friends steal the CSS Planter.

Write another word that means “danger”

Robert wears a coat and hat to disguise himself as the Planter’s captain.

Draw a large hat o n R obe rt

The men piloting the Planter pick up their families waiting nearby.

Draw your family

While passing Fort Sumter, Robert blows the whistle to signal all clear. It fools the Confederate guard just long enough to sneak past.

Describe a time you were scared, but kept going

Robert steers the Planter straight to a US Navy ship. They raise a white bedsheet as a flag to show the sailors they that surrender.

Design your own flag for freedom

Robert delivers the Planter, plus a Confederate code book, to the US Navy. He and his friends are now all free.

List 3 words that describe Robert

Robert Smalls is a hero!

He is honored and gets to meet President Lincoln.

Name a hero in your life

Susie King Taylor, teacher and nurse, helped fellow freedom seekers through education. She was born near Savannah, Georgia in 1848. Despite laws against it, she learned to read and write.

She became free at the age of 14 when her uncle led her to a US gunboat on the waters near Confederate-held Fort Pulaski.

During the Civil War, many Black women contributed by working behind Union lines as spies, nurses, and cooks. Susie did laundry for the First South Carolina Volunteers, the first Black regiment in the US Army. She also served as the reading instructor for the regiment. The unit’s commander, Thomas Wentworth Higginson, wrote of the soldiers, “Their love of the spelling-book is perfectly inexhaustible.” Susie married Sergeant Edward King. After the war, the Kings moved to Savannah where Susie opened a school.

Sadly, Edward died and the school quickly closed. She moved to

Boston in 1872 and later remarried. She devoted much of the rest of her life to work with the Woman’s Relief Corps, a national organization for female Civil War veterans.

Susie King Taylor

Fort Pulaski National Monument www.nps.gov/FOPU

Finding the Words In the 1800s, many southern states outlawed teaching enslaved people to read and write. Susie King Taylor knew the power of reading, and helped as many people as she could to understand letters and find words.

FIND AND CIRCLE all the words from the list below.

Amendment

Canada

Caribbean

Civil War

Confederate

Contraband

Disguise

Enslaved

Escape

Faith

Family

Florida

Fort Mose

Freedom

Mexico

Plantation

Quakers

River

Secret

Slavery

Swamp

Underground Railroad

Union

Criss Cross ANSWER THE CLUE in the corresponding space. One letter per box.

ACROSS

3. Though enslaved people did all types of work, most lived on plantations, large farms that grew valuable crops like _____.

4. Enslaved people had no legal ____, like freedom of speech or worship.

6. The Seminole _____ of Florida offered refuge to escaped slaves.

7. During the Civil War, Southern states fought for their own government called the _____ States of America.

9. The number of people that escaped and found freedom is _____.

12. Members of a religious society that provided aid to escaping slaves.

13. A destination to the north where freedom seekers created their own settlements, safe from slave catchers.

14. A type of war fought between opposing sides from the same country.

DOWN

1. An _____ wanted to end slavery.

2. Name a famous “conductor” of the

Underground Railroad.

5. An enslaved person that escaped.

8. In 1850, the _____ Slave Act passed.

10. Find a constellation called the _____ to use the starry night sky as a map.

11. To stay hidden, escaping slaves mainly traveled during _____.

7 8 9 10 11

Name that Freedom Seeker

She taught newly-free soldiers how to read.

With a group of men, he stole sailboats and rowed all night to freedom.

She led troops during an armed river raid on South Carolina plantations.

She hid in an attic for seven years before heading north.

He traveled south on foot to reach a US fort. He hid in swamps and passed Conderate encampments along the way.

He became a captain while serving the Spanish army and led the first free Black town in the US.

He was a leader among abolitionists and freedom seekers who created safe settlements in Canada.

He was a conductor that helped hundreds of people reach freedom at Fort Pulaski by water.

He stole a Confederate boat in the middle of the night and gave it to the US Navy.

He found secret swamp communities where he could hide before heading north.

MATCH the freedom seeker with their story summary by writing the number in the empty star by their name.

Susie King Taylor

Harriet Tubman

Wallace Turnage

Francisco Menéndez

Robert Smalls

March Haynes

Jim Matthews

Harriet Jacobs

Henry Bibb

William B. Gould

Freedom of Expression Enslaved people endured many hardships as the

“property” of another person. It did not matter whether their enslaver was nice or mean. The enslaved had no legal rights and could make few choices about their lives.

Enslaved people

…could be bought and sold at anytime.

…worked all day and received no pay.

…could not go anywhere without permission.

…could not legally marry.

…had no rights over their own children.

…could not choose their own job.

The undying hope for freedom became a survival tool for many, and inspired them to take a big risk on the

Underground Railroad.

Express yourself through art, like Sonja. WRITE OR DRAW about what Freedom means to you.

Express Yourself like

Artist Sonja Griffin Evans

Sonja is an internationally celebrated Gullah Geechee artist, born and raised in

South Carolina.

The Gullah Geechee people descended from Africans that were enslaved along the

Atlantic coast. She is inspired by the beauty, spirituality, and culture of her Gullah Sea Island home.

Sonja uses painting and drawing to explore African

American culture and share her heritage. She created the artwork in this book.

I promise to discover all I can about the Underground Railroad story, and talk to others about its glory.

I’ll do my part to help preserve history, and work with others to solve its mysteries.

A ranger’s job is never done, but ranger life is super fun!

Junior Ranger Pledge has shown a willingness and interest to learn more about the history surrounding the Underground

Railroad and has successfully completed the activities necessary to become a

SEN

D

TO

N atio n al U n d erg ro u n d R ailro ad

N etw o rk to

Freed o m Pro g ram

N atio n al Park Service

100 A lab am a St SW

A tlan ta, G A

30303

Underground Railroad Network to Freedom

Junior Ranger

This certifies that

H ello R angers!

M y nam e is

I com pleted m y Junior R anger book!

Please send m y Junior R anger badge to this address:

T hank you.

CONGRATULATIONS

Earn Your Badge

Underground Railroad Network to Freedom

Let us know when you complete your activities, so we can send you an official

Junior Ranger badge.

1. CUT OUT the postcard at right.

2. FILL IN THE BLANKS with your information.

3. ATTACH a stamp.

4. MAIL it to our Network to Freedom office.

The National Park Service thanks

Sonja Griffin Evans friend and artist of Beaufort, South Carolina for the use of her beautiful paintings throughout this activity book.

Exp lore. Lea

rn. P rotect.

I’m a N atio n al U n d erg ro u n d

R ailro ad

N etw o rk to

Freed o m Ju n io r R an g er!