Shhhh. Children hush. Cousin Ned and Cousin Nickel live over there on Cherokee Plantation in South Carolina. The two of them want to escape the harsh life on this plantation.
Enslaved Africans were not allowed to talk to each other in public places so they had to find secret ways to communicate to one another. Hush children. Shhhh.
When the Africans wanted to talk to each other and the master was around, they had to sing songs while they worked. See these songs were called work songs but they were really secret code songs because they had a hidden message in them.
The overseer thought they were singing religious things about Jesus and all of that but they had a hidden meaning in them about escaping from the plantation.
Can you help Cousin Ned and Cousin Nickel figure out the hidden meaning of the song? Listen good now!
The enslaved Africans were secretly singing about __________.
Oh, you were almost right. I tell you, they were secretly singing about RUNNING AWAY.
Now the first part of the plan was to let everybody but the master know that Ned and Cousin Nickel were going to escape tonight. Shhh. They just need to know the right way to go to find freedom. That means you give them directions. Remember now, everything has to be done in secret.
You chose the right thing. B is the answer. Boy you sure are smart! I tell you, they were secretly singing about RUNNING AWAY.
Now the first part of the plan was to let everybody but the master know that Ned and Cousin Nickel were going to escape tonight. Shhh. They just need to know the right way to go to find freedom. That means you give them directions. Remember now, everything has to be done in secret.
Where did they have to go to find the hidden directions? Listen good now!
Which object had the secret directions?
Oh, you were almost right. The direction was sewn on the QUILT and they hung the quilt outside on the line or on the fence. Everybody knew what the hidden message was in the quilt except for the master or overseer. They didn't know. They just thought it was a pretty quilt.
The North Star was used to guide the people through the woods to freedom. Some of the people escaped alone but many people escaped by way of the Underground Railroad.
Una, that means you. You chose the QUILT. That is so right, you got it right with your smart self again. Oh, I'm proud of you.
The direction was sewn on the QUILT and they hung the quilt outside on the line or on the fence. Everybody knew what the hidden message was in the quilt except for the master or overseer. They didn't know. They just thought it was a pretty quilt.
The North Star was used to guide the people through the woods to freedom. Some of the people escaped alone but many people escaped by way of the Underground Railroad.
The Underground Railroad was not a choo choo train. Not one that we ride on, but it was hidden pathways and safe houses that were hideouts for the enslaved Africans that were trying to get to freedom. See, they would rest at the safe houses and then they would move on until they finally reached up north to freedom.
Harriet Tubman was one of the most famous conductors of the Underground Railroad. Listen good now!
Harriet Tubman ______________.
Oh, you were almost right. That gal came back over 19 times to the South and helped to free over 300 other people including her mother and father.
Each trip was more dangerous and difficult than the other but you know that girl never lost a passenger. Not one. She told them, "If you decide to turn back, I'll shoot you dead before I let you go back into slavery." And not one turned back because all of them made it to freedom.
If una chose C, that be the right answer. Ohhh you so smart! That gal came back over 19 times to the South and helped to free over 300 other people including her mother and father.
Each trip was more dangerous and difficult than the other but you know that girl never lost a passenger. Not one. She told them, "If you decide to turn back, I'll shoot you dead before I let you go back into slavery." And not one turned back because all of them made it to freedom.
Free States
Non-free States
Well, I thank you children for helping Cousin Ned and Cousin Nickel learn the SECRET CODE and escape to freedom. And baby when they escaped they had a song to sing.
Oh When I Get There. They were talking about that Ohio River, Canada and New York up north to freedom.