Underground Railway

(proper noun)

a network of secret routes and safe houses used by 19th-century black slaves in the United States to escape to free states and Canada with the aid of abolitionists and allies who were sympathetic to their cause

Related Terms

Examples of Underground Railway in the following topics:

  • Slavery and the Abolitionist Movement

    • Resistance to slavery also took other forms including institutions such as the Underground Railway that helped escaping slaves make their way to freedom.

  • Separate But Equal

    • Nonetheless, the Supreme Court ruling "[required] railway companies carrying passengers in their coaches in that State to provide equal, but separate, accommodations for the white and colored races…," establishing the actual term "separate but equal" in the process.

  • Nuclear Weapons

    • The Partial Test Ban Treaty (1963) restricted all nuclear testing to underground facilities, to prevent contamination from nuclear fallout, while the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (1968) attempted to place restrictions on the types of activities signatories could participate in, with the goal of allowing the transference of non-military nuclear technology to member countries without fear of proliferation.

  • The Golden Age: 1860–1932

    • Between 1865 and 1898, the output of wheat increased by 256%, corn by 222%, coal by 800% and miles of railway track by 567%.

  • Tax Loopholes and Lowered Taxes

    • Tax evasion is an activity commonly associated with the underground economy, and one measure of the extent of tax evasion is the amount of unreported income, namely the difference between the amount of income that should legally be reported to the tax authorities and the actual amount reported, which is also sometimes referred to as the "tax gap. "