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Doing Your Own Research
Research is the key to the activities of the Ohio Underground
Railroad Association.
Special thanks to James Caccamo(deceased),former East
Region Coordinator, and Carolyn Cutler, member of the Friends of Freedom
Society, for their help with the content for this page.
Uncovering the history of the Underground Railroad is not an easy task. Several
factors contribute to this difficulty:
 | Many African Americans did not read and write; thus, because there are relatively few
written records made by African Americans, their activity on the Underground Railroad has
been rendered invisible to historians. Other evidence of African American activity was
recorded by white people who had difficulty understanding the perspective of their
informants. These records are marred by a kind of white paternalism regarding the
informants. |
| Because of the illegal nature of Underground Railroad activities, those who could read
and write often did not keep records of their work. |
| Many of the records of the Underground Railroad were collected through oral history
after the Civil War. This meant that the "winners" were relying on their
memories, and would have a tendency to distort occurrences in their own favor. |
| The Romantic sensibility of the nineteenth century tended to create a kind of idealism
that makes hard historical fact more difficult to come by. Accounts are strongly flavored
with the perspectives of the persons to whom they happened. All too often a story teller
or writer will provide a conclusion (e.g., about the pathetic nature of the people being
helped) rather than the facts of the process of helping or the conversations that actually
took place. |
| Historical documents, where they exist, tend to focus on the better organized portions
of the Underground Railroad. It is likely that people escaped the south without
anyone’s help but it is hard to collect historical evidence of such occurrences. |
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The
desire to be a part of a history that has so many potential heroes
means that people may have a tendency to overinterpret evidence in
favor of the Underground Railroad. For example, if a house has a secret
room, it is often said to be an Underground Railroad site. Yet, as
James Caccamo(deceased) points out in his history of the Underground
Railroad in Hudson, Ohio, there may have been other compelling reasons
to build secret rooms. Counterfeiters, for example, may have created
and used those secret rooms. |
Despite the difficulties, the history of the Underground Railroad nevertheless lurks in
family Bibles, in land transfer and census records, in diaries, in church records, in
cemeteries, in political speeches and many other sources. Local historians,
genealogists and local historical societies are rich sources of information.
If you are interested in finding Underground Railroad sites in your area, start with
your local library and local historical societies. Read the county history for the
counties you are interested in - they often contain a great deal of Underground Railroad
information.
| Identify all pre-1865 structures in your community. Structures which date after the
passage of the 13th Amendment cannot be Underground Railroad sites. In addition, there is
less likelihood of Underground Railroad use in Civil War vintage structures (1861-1865). |
| Identify those individuals in your community who had anti-slavery and in particular
Abolitionist sentiments. Sources may include: county and community histories letters and
diaries membership in anti-slavery societies newspaper accounts of anti-slavery rallies,
and letters to the editor associated with known Abolitionists |
| Use Wilbur Siebert's book The Mysteries of
Ohio's Underground Railroads to help identify pathways as well as prominent figures.
Most libraries have a copy that can be used for reference. · |
We also recommend that you explore our Links and Resources
pages. Also check our page about the Regions throughout Ohio.
If you are trying to research whether a specific site is an Underground Railroad site,
here are a few key questions to help you begin:
| Did the site exist before 1865? Remember that underground railroad activity
stopped in 1865 with the end of the Civil War and the freeing of the slaves. |
| What is known about the people who lived in the house? Were they involved in
abolitionist activities? What would motivate them to break the law? |
| What evidence can be found? Are there newspaper accounts? Church records?
Oral history? Wilbur Siebert's work can
be a good starting place. |
As you proceed with your research:
| Keep a strong sense of historical perspective. For instance, don't assume that a hidden
room or a tunnel means you have an Underground Railroad site. Other uses can also produce
such features. For example, counterfeiters and bootleggers often employed secret rooms.
Tunnels may have had an industrial use (for example, ventilation). Use other historical
evidence to help you determine the origins of what you find. |
| Always lend more credence to accounts that were set down at the time the Underground
Railroad was active. Accounts drawn from memory after the fact, especially those written
years after the end of the Civil War, may contain inaccuracies and embellishments. |
| Most importantly, study the Underground Railroad as you would other events in history,
without romanticizing. In other words, try to discover what is true, not what you want to
be true. |
Ohio Underground Railroad Regional Coordinator, Beverly Gray, is an excellent
researcher and has some great advice about researching underground railroad history in her
"A tale of two sites".
The National Park Service has a brochure on researching underground railroad history
which is also available online:
We also recommend that you explore our Links and Resources
pages. Also check our page about the Regions throughout Ohio. |
