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6 THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD slave catchers, avoid illness and accident, stave off hunger and exposure to heat and cold, and fi nd their way north, often guided by little other than the North Star. Given the odds against them, it’s extraordinary that an estimated 1,000 to 2,000 slaves managed to escape each year in the three decades before the Civil War. Many others tried and failed. Once north of the Mason-Dixon Line, fugitives were frequently as- sisted by white Underground workers and agents. But it’s also the case that much aid came from black residents in the North, many of whom were escaped slaves themselves. Numerous Railroad conductors and sta- tionmasters were black and worked closely with white abolitionists. In fact, the Underground Railroad was one of the fi rst large-scale interracial collaborations in the United States. Additionally, established black com- munities in the North generously contributed funds and supplies to run- aways. Vigilance committees, charged with seeing to the material welfare of fugitives, were often founded and operated by free blacks in such cit- ies as New York, Boston, Philadelphia, and Cincinnati. And hundreds of ex-slaves demonstrated resolve and self-suffi ciency by founding all-black settlements in Canada, a land that generously opened its doors to fugitives in the antebellum years. From fi rst to last, blacks were active participants in the Underground Railroad, rather than mere passengers. Their engage- ment should come as no surprise. For generations, slaves had resisted their servitude to “ol’ massa” in ways that ranged from day-to-day covert insub- ordination to, occasionally, overt insurrection. Indeed, given that there were no Southern Underground Railroad lines, there would have been very few passengers on the Railroad at all were it not for slaves’ determi- nation to make it to the Free States. A BRIGHT, SHINING MOMENT The literature on the Underground Railroad is vast—the annotated bib- liography at the end of this book gives some indication of its scope—and this volume aims to do little more than offer readers an introduction to the movement. Chapter 1 provides some background by examining the ethos of resistance in slave communities that encouraged slaves to run for freedom in the fi rst place. Chapter 2 explores the diffi culties slaves faced when they ran and the means by which they struggled to navi- gate their way northward. Chapter 3 takes a look at the different Under- ground Railroad routes available to slaves after they reached the North.