The secret language of the Underground Railroad was first printed in the Western Citizen Illinois newspaper in 1844. As trains gained importance in the country so did the communication for the secret passageway to freedom. The terms used in this communication were related to the railroad.
The Underground Railroad was operated by ordinary people wanting to help others. They were farmers, business owners, wealthy and poor. They became the "agents" (sympathizers to abolitionist movement), "stockholders" (financial helpers), "station managers" (people who hid slaves in their home) and "freight" (escaped slaves).
Aimee Lynch ~ Followi the Drinkin Gourd ~ May 2, 2015
"Stations" (hiding places) were along the "tracks" (routes) that all lead to the "terminals" (heaven or freedom). If someone was using the word "freight", it meant that they had escaped slaves. In all they were mostly following the drinking gourd known as the Big Dipper that pointed to the North Star.
“Follow the Drinking Gourd,” written and illustrated by Jeanette Winter.
“Who are you after you finish something this magnificent – in constructing it you have also journeyed through it, to the other side. On one end there was who you were before you went underground, and on the other end a new person steps out into the light. The up-top world must be so ordinary compared to the miracle beneath, the miracle you made with your sweat and blood. The secret triumph you keep in your heart.”
~ Colson Whitehead, The Underground Railroad
Underground Rairlrad Map ~ nps.gov ~ 2021
"Researchers estimate 5,000 to 10,000 people escaped from bondage into Mexico,but the actual number could be even higher. These were clandestine routes and if you got caught you would be killed and lynched so most people didn’t leave a lot of records.”
~ Maria Hammack: dissertation at the University of Texas at Austin
“I have come across abolitionists from the north who were going to Mexico to petition Mexico to allow them to buy land to establish colonies for runaway slaves and free blacks. Quaker abolitionist Benjamin Lundy was actively petitioning the Mexican government to allow for colonies to be established for, I guess what we would consider now, refugees. It still belongs to their descendants and they still live there to this day in Mexico.”
~ Maria Hammack: dissertation at the University of Texas at Austin
The freedom trains came to the end of the track in 1863 during the Civil War.