It started in the 1830s, when African Americans were slaves. People made these "railroads" to sneak people out into safety and freedom. They weren't actually railroads, they were several different things. Tunnels, hiding slaves under hay in wagons, hiding them in their attics, and much more. The people who snuck them out into safety were called "conductors". Harriet Tubman was one of the most well known conductors of this railroad.
Harriet Tubman, perhaps the most well-known conductor of the Underground Railroad, helped hundreds of runaway slaves escape to freedom. She never lost one of them along the way. As a fugitive slave herself, she was helped along the Underground Railroad by another famous conductor…William Still.
