Pathways to Freedom: Maryland and the Underground Railroad

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• Learn more about African Americans, American history, slavery, and Underground Railroad.

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Pathways to Freedom: Maryland and the Underground Railroad “has been designed to help Maryland students in Grades 4 and 8 look more closely at Maryland’s people, stories, and events of that surrounded this important effort.”At this website from Maryland’s Thinkport, you will find a visually stunning encounter with age-appropriate information for students about slavery and the Underground Railroad, as well as a series of neat activities to demonstrate what they have learned. The introductory area covers several topics explaining what slavery was and why slaves wanted to run away and be free as well as what the Underground Railroad was and how slaves used this secretive system to escape to freedom.Pathways to Freedom allows learners to travel back in time as a young slave who must make some important and life-changing decisions; experience eyewitness accounts from the autobiographies, interviews, and biographies of Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, and others; and use the interactive timeline with slave population statistics by county in Maryland.An interactive map invites learners to explore places in Maryland that are linked to the people and places of the Underground Railroad. Examine historic sites from the 19th Century that exist today, states where slavery was allowed, and states where slavery was prohibited, and three routes Maryland slaves followed to freedom.Students can also learn the language of the Underground Railroad and discover the secret symbols and signs that Underground workers and travelers used to communicate their life-saving messages in songs and quilts. They can even create a quilt block containing their own secret message.Almost every feature on this site includes guidance for students and teaching tips for educators.