- Grade Levels:
- 4-adult
- Length:
- 60 minutes
- Taping Rights:
- Unlimited
- MARC Record:
- Downloadable
- Web Site:
- KET Online
- Teaching Materials:
- See Below
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By the middle of the 19th century, more than one-fifth of Kentucky’s population was made up of slaves—200,000 men, women, and children. But the state’s northern boundary, the Ohio River, represented freedom, and its proximity was a powerful lure. Thousands of Kentucky’s slaves attempted to escape, and thousands more from farther south passed through Kentucky on their own runs for freedom. The network of safe houses and sympathetic helpers for slaves on their way north came to be known—at first derisively, by slave owners, but then proudly—as the Underground Railroad. Many Kentucky towns and people played critical roles in the story of the railroad. But because their locations and actions were necessarily secret, the intervening decades have seen much of their history lost.
This KET documentary, which premiered in February 2000, fills in some of the missing pieces of that history and supports inquiry in a variety of subject areas. In research and production for more than two years, it features stories of bravery and resourcefulness on the part of both the slaves who risked their lives in the attempt to reach freedom in the North and the free blacks and white abolitionists who tried to help them. Teachers can use the entire program or selected segments to illustrate Kentucky’s role in the story of slavery, abolitionism, and the Underground Railroad.
Other broad themes of the documentary include Kentucky’s unique geography and location on the border between slave and non-slave states, the unquenchable desire to live in freedom that led to resistance to slavery, Kentucky’s dual economy as a supplier of goods and materials to the North and slaves to the South, the form of slavery found in Kentucky and its consequences, the socially constructed belief structure that “justified” slavery in the South, music as a source of solace and rebellion, and the importance of documenting and preserving local history.
In addition to history and social studies, this program touches on topics in earth and space science, economics, geography, language arts, music, and visual arts. KET has also produced an accompanying four-part professional development seminar, Kentucky’s Underground Railroad, that expands on these connections and outlines resources and strategies teachers can use to incorporate the story of the Underground Railroad into the Core Content.
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