The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #99117 Message #2893722
Posted By: Q (Frank Staplin)
24-Apr-10 - 08:28 PM
Thread Name: Lyr Add: I Am Bound for the Land of Canaan
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: I Am Bound for the Land of Canaan
There were several well-known 'conductors' on the underground railway. Tubman is often cited, but there were many others, some managing to move thousands. Robert Purvis, an African-American freedman, is credited with transporting 9000. African-American conductors included William Still, and David Ruggles, in addition to Tubman. Some 30,000 reached Canada and many others were secreted in rural areas of the North. Thread 17760 ('Gourd') briefly mentions their activities (13 Apr 05). Most of the activity involved carefully planned movement from safe shelter to safe shelter.
One of the old songs possibly about escape to the North or Canada was "I'm Gwine Away Up Yonder," but words seem not to have been preserved- C. G. Parsons, 1855, Inside View of Slavery, or a Tour Among the Planters, John P. Jewett and Company (Google).