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For many states, September represents International Underground Railroad Month. The State of Maryland initiated this commemoration in 2019. During this month, we hope to elevate and share Underground Railroad histories with our communities and better understand how the actions of freedom seekers and their allies shaped the world we live in today.
September represents International Underground Railroad Month because it was the month that two of the most well-known freedom seekers and Underground Railroad operatives, Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman, escaped from slavery.
There was no singular path to freedom. Freedom seekers may have chosen to travel within the United States, but some travelled internationally to secure their freedom: to the Caribbean, Mexico, England, Canada, etc. The journeys of freedom seekers themselves is part of what connects nations across the world to the history of the Underground Railroad.
Wherever and whenever slavery existed, there were efforts to escape. We know free Black communities, and in some cases Indigenous tribes, came together to aid freedom seekers in their fight for freedom: not just Quakers and wealthy white abolitionists. We know that freedom seekers who made the decision to escape traveled not just North to Canada: but South to locations like Spanish Florida, the Caribbean and Mexico to reclaim their freedom. All these puzzle pieces can help us understand the Underground Railroad as one of the first American Civil Rights movements.
In September 2019, the State of Maryland initiated the commemoration of September as International Underground Railroad Month and invited other states to join them in the future. In 2020, Maryland Office of Tourism and the Michigan Freedom Trails Commission reached out to the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom to collaborate with sites, facilities, and programs with documented connections to the Underground Railroad. The Network to Freedom’s role is to bring communities together and provide them with an opportunity to engage with these stories in a new way.
The National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom Program defines the Underground Railroad as “resistance to slavery through escape and flight.” The Underground Railroad would not exist were it not for the bravery of freedom seekers who self-liberated: and thus, it is imperative that discussion of the Underground Railroad is centered on the experiences of the freedom seekers themselves. Everyone who escaped slavery has a unique story, and though it is possible to draw trends from the hundreds of individuals who escaped, we must understand that there is no such thing as a “routine” or “typical” escape story. By examining the Underground Railroad in this way, we can more thoroughly understand the obstacles freedom seekers faced, the motivations of allies and enemies, and the complexity and nuance of one of the first Civil Rights movements in the United States.
Digital versions of proclamations will be available in the coming days.
Events are being held all over the country and internationally to commemorate International Underground Railroad Month. The National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom Organization Calendar Page has information relative to Network to Freedom Members that are hosting events for International Underground Railroad Month, as does our International Underground Railroad Month landing page.
