The use of symbols on the underground railroad: an interpretative perspective
The Underground Railroad was not underground, and it was not a railroad. According to legend, it got its name around 1831 when a slave named Tice Davids escaped from Kentucky to the free state of Ohio. His owner searched a long time, but never found him. The owner finally gave up, saying the slave must have escaped on “an underground road. ”The objective of this paper is to emphasize the use of symbols as means of communication to help runaways travel to Canada or elsewhere for freedom. Because of the nature of the topic, historicism appears to be the most appropriate theory applied.