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Slavery and Freedom

3m 16s

As incredible as it sounds today, in the 1850s many Americans believed that slaves were incapable of thinking for themselves and could not survive on their own. They believed that the black man was created by God to serve a white master and found passages in the Bible to prove it. Some slave holders even argued that they were doing their slaves a favor by providing them with food and shelter.

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.
Slaves who ran away from their masters and were re-captured suffered terrible punishments.
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.
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This is the story of a man who risked his life shepherding runaway slaves to freedom.