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Punishment

1m 46s

Slaves who ran away from their masters and were re-captured suffered terrible punishments. A severe beating was the most common form of discipline, usually administered with a bull whip or a wooden paddle. The offender would be hung by the hands or staked to the ground and every slave on the plantation would be forced to watch the whipping to deter them from running away.

Underground Railroad: The William Still Story is made possible by CN Railway, the Rogers Cable Network, Canada Media Fund, The Rogers Documentary Fund, and by The Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
Extras
This is the story of a man who risked his life shepherding runaway slaves to freedom.
Program segment for PBS Learning Media.
Program segment for PBS Learning Media
Program segment for PBS Learning Media.
Historians have never been able to pin down how the Underground Railroad got its name.
Well-known Negro Spirituals of the mid-1800s are much more complex than they first appear.
The Fugitive Slave Act was an attempt by the government to appease southern slave states.
William Still earned the name "The Father of the Underground Railroad".
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This is the story of a man who risked his life shepherding runaway slaves to freedom.