Underground Railroad Websites

XPEDITIONS website.  This is a website that National Geographic and American History sponsors.  In this site, students can look at primary documents and learn about tools used on Rice Plantations. Finally, there is an activity about Freedom Quilts.  There is also a list of books students can read if they are interested in learning more about the Underground Railroad.

http://americanhistory.si.edu/ourstoryinhistory/tryathome/activities_slave.html

A class in Oregon created a quilt full of interesting information about the Underground Railroad. This includes student work from a fourth grade class.  You can look at maps, learn about other stations of the Underground Railroad, the Drinking Gourd, and learn more about the historical context of the Railroad.  This informational website has won many awards!

http://www.beavton.k12.or.us/greenway/leahy/ugrr/index.htm

The NASA Drinking Gourd Website describes in detail what the lyrics of the song, "The Drinking Gourd" means.  You can also listen to recordings of "The Drinking Gourd" and learn about the cultural history of the "Drinking Gourd."

http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/ltc/special/mlk/gourd2.html

Quaker Information Center.  This website was written by Quakers giving  people a good idea of what the religion is and what Quakers believe in.  Visitors can find out about the organization of their religion, and also locate meetings of Friends. 

http://www.quakerinfo.org/resources/index.html

Freedom Center Website.   This is a website of the National Freedom Center located in Cincinnati Ohio, where many of the Eastern Illinois University pre-service teachers, professors and some teachers from a local school in Charleston Illinois visited before the Project Wow began.  This museum gave information about slavery, the Underground Railroad, the Civil War, and even Unfreedoms that people are experiencing at present day.  Visitors to this website can find information about slavery, and history of the Underground Railroad.  Visitors can also learn more information and watch videos about current Unfreedoms. 

http://www.freedomcenter.org/

PBS Africans in America.  This discusses America's Journey through slavery.  Divided into four parts, this site gives historical narratives, resource bank and teacher's guide for using the site.  This is full of a fantastic wealth of information for students and teachers alike. 

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/

 Scholastic Underground Railroad Website.  This great interactive and fun website provides information and fun activities for students to participate in about slavery and the Underground Railroad.  The fugitive slaves journey is split into four categories: "On the Plantation," "Escape," "Reaching Safety," and finally "Reaching Freedom."  There is also a section for teachers in every category, including a library of primary sources.

http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/bhistory/underground_railroad/plantation.htm

Slave Spirituals.  This website gives students the opportunity to learn about slave spirituals and the purpose of them.  These spirituals are split into different time periods, and students can listen to certain sound clips of songs.  This will help students get an idea of how slaves communicated to each other through music. 

http://www.negrospirituals.com/song.htm

A great book that we read and reviewed this semester was called, The Underground Railroad and it was written by Raymond Bial.  This helped our group get an overall understanding of the Underground Railroad and the historical background of this important time in history.