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Racine, Wisconsin
and Knoxville, Tennessee
Quote:
George
Sublett: Racine Wisconsin
" I was born a slave. But…I could not resign my right to life….I
could not silence the whisperings of self-respect or the enchanting voice
which was ever telling me of Freedom….I saw free-swimming fish and
the singing bird freely moving; and the smallest insects possessing a
power of freedom denied to me….In growing manhood I felt my strength….and
my longings for a better life."
In Their Own Words: personal stories
Robert Falls, a former slave from Knoxville, Tennessee:
" If I had my life to live over I would die fighting rather
than be a slave again….But in them days we didn’t know no
better. All we knowed was work and hard work. We learned to say, “Yes,
sir!” and scrape down and bow and do just exactly what we was told
to do, make no difference if we wanted to or not….
I remember so well how the roads was full of folks walking and walking
along when the Negroes were freed. Didn’t know where they was going….
[Time passed, and] then something begins to work, up here (in
Mr. Falls’ mind) I begins to think and to know things. And I knowed
then I could make a living for my own self, and I never had to be a slave
no more."
Let’s Talk About It
- Sometimes people
involved on the underground railroad were arrested, made to pay fines,
sent to jail, or even beaten or killed because they helped fugitive
slaves. The people they helped were almost always strangers. Why do
you think workers on the underground railroad took risks to help people
they didn’t even know?
For any remarks, suggestions, or broken links:
Please email us at:
history@tds.net
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