I am watching a show on PBS about the Underground Railroad...

[WCGreen]

I look at what was happening and I wonder what I would have done, wonder if I would have had the courage to do what thousands of men and women did for people they didn't know...

When the Fugative Slave Law passes, with much help from northern politicians eager to keep the South in the Union, no slave was safe until they were on Canadian soil.

I wonder what I would have done.

Engaging in protest is easy. Putting your life and limb on the line for a cause...

I learned that the Spiritials were all coded and about the Underground Railroad.

Swing Low, Sweet Chariot, coming for to Carry me home....

The Chariot is the Underground Railroad. The River Jordon was the Ohio River.

It's amazing that the Republican Party here in Ohio was once fighting for freedom for the Slaves and that now, they resort to coded racial slurs in order to garner the votes of those who still view African Americans as inferior to the White race...

[ejpoeta]

1. I was watching that last night I think. Very good.

I never knew 'swing low sweet chariot' was a coded message. Very neat.

[monmouth]

2. I loved it also. We always hear about the wonderful Harriet Tubman but Mr. Still was so

important and played an enormous role in the movement. I did not realize Philadelphia played such a role either. One of the best PBS shows I've seen in a while. I also didn't realize about the trek north to Canada. That's why PBS needs to always be funded. Great stuff.

[yella_dawg]

3. A great grand-uncle worked on the underground railroad.

His beliefs still resonate in my family so many years later.

My other great grand-uncle fought against the buffalo soldiers in west central Texas.

Go figure.

[Blue_In_AK]

9. Maybe your great grand-uncle knew my great grand-uncle.

See my post below.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

4. I wonder too how I would have reacted, what I would have done then...

We always hope and believe that we would have done the right, brave thing. But until we're actually there, you can't really know.

I had no idea the Spirituals were coded...what a clever idea. Music has been used to convey messages before. Beethoven's Symphony #5 with its familiar opening (dah dah dah daaaaaah) was the same as Morse Code for victory.

And haven't the parties done a complete about face? I wonder what Lincoln would say now, if he could see what today's Republicans are doing to minorities.

[snacker]

5. Excellent show.

It should be shown in every U.S. history class.

[WCGreen]

8. That was my thinking....

It's easy to follow and easy to fall into, if you get my drift, without being maudlin.

[Little Star]

6. PBS always has some great suff. n/t

[Blue_In_AK]

7. I have a Quaker ancestor, Benjamin Lundy, who published antislavery tracts

and newspapers in the early 1800s. My paternal grandmother was a Lundy, and Benjamin would have been an uncle of hers.

http://www2.gol.com/users/quakers/Benjamin_Lundy.htm

[matmar]

10. Republican Party of that period is not the same party of today.

Same for the Democrats.

Democrats were a southern racist party. Republican Party was a reform party that later got taken over by big business interests.

When LBJ signed the Civil Rights Act he flipped the south to Republican and the Republican Party became the home for racists as exploited by Nixon (known as the Nixon Strategy) in 1968 election.

[WillyT]

11. HUGE K & R !!! - Thank You !!!