VOCABULARY | lincolns-circle

CIVIL WAR VOCABULARY

Underground Railroad vocabulary

abolition - ending or wiping out of something, usually referring to the ending of slavery.

abolitionist - person who opposes slavery.

captive - captured or enslaved.

climate- all weather conditions for a given location over a period of time.

conductor -- in the Underground Railroad, a person who guided slaves to safety and freedom.

discrimination - treatment based on a group to which a person belongs, not the person himself.

emancipation - freedom.

flee - to run away.

Frederick Douglass- (1818-1895) American civil rights pioneer and a leader in the fight to end slavery.

free state- nation or country that outlaws slavery.

Harriet Tubman- (1820-1913) American abolitionist and leader in the Underground Railroad.

passenger-- in the Underground Railroad, a runaway slave seeking freedom.

pilot- in the Underground Railroad, a person who went to slave states to find slaves seeking freedom and willing to risk their lives to achieve it.

route- path or way.

slave hunter-- person who seeks out runaway slaves in order to return them to slavery.

slavery-- process and condition of owning another human being or being owned by another human being.

slave state-- nation or country where slavery is legal.

station-- in the Underground Railroad, a safe place where runaway slaves could hide.

territory-- land an animal, human, or government protects from intruders.

Underground Railroad-- system used by abolitionists between 1800-1865 to help American slaves escape to free states