A map depicting the most common routes of escape used by slaves.
Colson Whitehead's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, The Underground Railroad, takes us on a solemn journey across Eastern America, as a young slave named Cora treks through many states in search of freedom. Throughout the novel, we watch Cora grow up as she experiences each phase of her life as a slave in different geographic regions; her journey through numerous geographical locations is key in shaping her character's experiences, knowledge, and decisions, because the culture and severity of slavery-related violence, both for slaves and whites, looked very different in each state she visits.
1. Georgia
The caption at the bottom of this image is very small and difficult to read, but it explains that the numbers on each county in Georgia refers to the percentage of the population in each county that was made up of slaves. It is unknown which particular county Cora is from, but because the depicted percentages range anywhere from 20-70, it can be inferred just based on this map alone that this state was consistent in its violence against slaves. In the novel, Cora experienced and witnessed harsh, violent racism that caused her to flee, along with her ally Caesar, via a literal underground railroad to her first stop on her journey.
2. South Carolina
The darker districts (historically, South Carolina was divided into districts, rather than counties) refer to higher populations of slaves. Because Cora escaped from Georgia, which is south of South Carolina, we can assume that Cora and Caesar got off of the underground train somewhere in a densely slave-populated region near Beaufort. Here, Cora takes on a false identity, and begins to enjoy a life of simulated freedom. So much so, in fact, that she is reluctant to venture farther north. That is, until she discovers a few of her women roommates were being sterilized against their will. This is Cora's first encounter with scientific racism. In short, this was a practice used by many white doctors, especially those in South Carolina, which aimed to control the black population using pseudoscience that treated their health as not only biologically different/of less importance than that of white people, but it also treated their desire to flee as some kind of mysterious psychological ailment. A common diagnosis used during this time was "drapetomania." This made-up word is a combination of two Greek words: "drapetes," which translates to "runaway," and "mania," which refers to "madness." Historically, white doctors claimed dozens of bogus theories, like that black people had smaller brains and blood vessels than white people; all of these claims were made to reiterate a white belief that slaves were not fully human and could not experience a human desire to escape slavery, so therefore, their justification was that slaves must have been diseased if they fled. Cora's discovery of this practice causes her to fear that something much more sinister than what she experienced in Georgia is happening in South Carolina, and so she once again flees through the underground railroad.
3. North Carolina
In North Carolina, Cora does a lot of observation. She is whisked away to an attic by a sympathizer, Martin, though his wife, Ethel, disapproves of her husband's decision to illegally harbor a slave. Historically, it was incredibly dangerous for a slave to be kept hidden, but it was equally dangerous for white sympathizers to harbor slaves, especially in North Carolina. According to this map, North Carolina had a lesser population of slaves and of plantations. However, the racist ideals still were held sacred in the region; so much so, in fact, that anyone who was caught aiding a fugitive slave, either in their escape route or in keeping them safe, was oftentimes punished just as brutally as the runaway. The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 (nicknamed the Bloodhound Act) was thereby established, which ordered that civilians (for clarification, "civilians" referred exclusively to white people) were held just as responsible as the government for capturing and returning fugitive slaves to their owners, even if they were found in a free state. It also claimed that anyone caught harboring fugitives would face a fine of "no less than one thousand dollars" and a six-month jail sentence. For context: in 1850, $1,000 would be the equivalent of about $30,000 today. Though, it appears that some sympathizers faced harsher consequences than a mere hefty fine and jail time. When Martin and Ethel's maid, Fiona, becomes suspicious that they could be aiding a runaway slave, she alerts the authorities, and Cora is captured following a search of the home. As their punishment, Martin and Ethel are stoned to death.
4. Tennessee
When Cora arrives in Tennessee, she discovers an utter wasteland. Almost apocalyptic, the geography she witnesses has been ravaged and destroyed by what appears to her to be the ramifications of a natural disaster. However, the time period when she arrives would likely be after the Memphis Riots of 1866, leading the reader to believe that the destruction was a result of riot-induced chaos. The Riot was a three day-long event that occurred at the beginning of the Reconstruction Era, which was initiated by the arrest of a black former soldier by white police officers. Dozens of black allies arrived to intervene and prevent the arrest, and shots were fired, though it is still unknown for certain who initiated the shooting. More and more people came to express their outrage, and they quickly turned to drastic measures like burning down white homes and businesses to make the chaos so large-scale that the white first responders would not be able to keep up. What Cora witnesses is complete desolation, though the cause of it remains a mystery to her. She passes through Tennessee and arrives in Indiana.
5. Indiana
Cora finally arrives in the free state of Indiana, and begins her stay at the Valentine farm, which is home to a community of free blacks and former slaves. Her long-awaited comfort makes her feel reluctant to leave, especially after the torturous journey she had endured, but unfortunately, she is once again forced out of her safe haven. A group of white supremacists raid the Valentine farm, killing many of the blacks living on the estate. Indiana was historically a free state, though many whites from neighboring slave states, like Kentucky and Missouri, would travel to Indiana to capture slaves and return them to the South. Fortunately, Cora manages to escape being killed by hitching a ride with a driver who says he is en route to California. That is where Cora's journey ends - or, perhaps, continues, and we can only hope she survived the remainder of her travels.