What was the Underground Railroad ?

Neither a railroad nor underground. The Underground Railroad was a network of people who hid and guided freedom seekers as they followed the North Star to Canada - to freedom.

Millions of black Africans were shipped as slaves to the United States and the Caribbean in terribly overcrowded boats. Over time, 40,000 of these people fled to Canada; after the civil war half of them returned to the south with the hope of being re-united with family and friends.

Following the American Revolution, many British Loyalists left the United States and moved to Upper Canada; many brought slaves with them.

On May 21, 1793, Lieutenant Governor John Graves Simcoe introduced a bill which prevented the introduction of further slavery into Upper Canada.

From the early 1820's those escaping slavery in the United States followed the North Star to find shelter behind Upper Canada's humanitarian policies. Before long the "Underground Railroad" brought the first freedom seekers to Upper Canada and as a result a substantial population of blacks established itself in the Niagara Region.