[bielefeld] 2020 Study Links THIS To Early Life Blindness

[Vision Loss]

2020 Study Links THIS To Early Life Blindness

http://leonary.cyou/ZRrm0DgAoE-aCKkBp4KKTJ_Pa6go0YK0tbpQzU0o1uHrZ61w

http://leonary.cyou/j0kfMcmwVBepf13k36360u0utW6SyPyJ4T6UgMC2XH9-Nmgg

The Underground Railroad did not have a headquarters, nor were there published guides, maps, pamphlets, or even newspaper articles. The Underground Railroad consisted of meeting points, secret routes, transportation, and safe houses, all of them maintained by abolitionist sympathizers and communicated by word of mouth. Participants generally organized in small, independent groups; this helped to maintain secrecy because individuals knew some connecting "stations" along the route but knew few details of their immediate area. People escaping enslavement would move north along the route from one way station to the next. "Conductors" on the railroad came from various backgrounds and included free-born Blacks, White abolitionists, former enslaved (either escaped or manumitted), and Native Americans. Church clergy and congregations of the North often played a role, especially the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), Congregationalists, Wesleyans, and Reformed Presbyterians, as well as the anti-slavery branches of mainstream denominations which split over the issue, such the Methodist church and the Baptists. The role of free Blacks was crucial; without it, there would have been almost no chance for fugitives from slavery to reach freedom safely.

Terminology
Members of the Underground Railroad often used specific terms, based on the metaphor of the railway. For example:

People who helped enslaved people find the railroad were "agents" (or "shepherds")
Guides were known as "conductors"
Hiding places were "stations" or "way stations"
"Station masters" hid enslaved people in their homes
People escaping slavery were referred to as "passengers" or "cargo"
Enslaved people would obtain a "ticket"
Similar to common gospel lore, the "wheels would keep on turning"
Financial benefactors of the Railroad were known as "stockholders"
The Big Dipper (whose "bowl" points to the North Star) was known as the drinkin' gourd. The Railroad was often known as the "freedom train" or "Gospel train", which headed towards "Heaven" or "the Promised Land", i.e., Canada.

William Still, sometimes called "The Father of the Underground Railroad", helped hundreds of enslaved people to escape (as many as 60 a month), sometimes hiding them in his Philadelphia home. He kept careful records, including short biographies of the people, that contained frequent railway metaphors. He maintained correspondence with many of them, often acting as a middleman in communications between people who had escaped slavery and those left behind. He later published these accounts in the book The Underground Railroad: Authentic Narratives and First-Hand Accounts (1872), a valuable resource for historians to understand how the system worked and learn about individual ingenuity in escapes.

According to Still, messages were often encoded so that they could be understood only by those active in the railroad. For example, the following message, "I have sent via at two o'clock four large hams and two small hams", indicated that four adults and two children were sent by train from Harrisburg to Philadelphia. The additional word via indicated that the "passengers" were not sent on the usual train, but rather via Reading, Pennsylvania. In this case, the authorities were tricked into going to the regular
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