Underground Railroad: The William Still Story RSS feed for PBS programming.http://video.pbs.orgen-ushttp://video.pbs.orgTue, 18 Jun 2013 23:15:26 -0400Tue, 18 Jun 2013 23:15:26 -0400http://video.pbs.org/video/2181639247/Many of the well-known Negro Spirituals popular in the United States during the mid-1800s are much more complex than they first appear. Historians of the Underground Railroad refer to them as "Coded Spirituals". What that means is that the words actually have two meanings; one that is immediately apparent and one that's hidden just below the surface.http://video.pbs.org/video/2181639247/01/06/2012Well-known Negro Spirituals of the mid-1800s are much more complex than they first appear.tv-pgCulture & SocietyCulture & SocietyReligion & BeliefsReligion & BeliefsHistoryHistoryUnited StatesUnited StatesCliphttp://video.pbs.org/video/2181630974/Historians haven't been able to pin down how the Underground Railroad got its name. Many believe it was a slave-catcher who coined the term, when the runaway he was chasing seemed to just disappear as though he'd escaped on a mysterious underground rail line. But one thing is certain: the "railroad" that helped runaway slaves flee to the free states had nothing to do with steel rails.http://video.pbs.org/video/2181630974/01/06/2012Historians have never been able to pin down how the Underground Railroad got its name.tv-pgHistoryHistoryUnited StatesUnited StatesCliphttp://video.pbs.org/video/2176338574/Slaves who ran away from their masters and were re-captured suffered terrible punishments. A severe beating was the most common form of discipline, usually administered with a bull whip or a wooden paddle. The offender would be hung by the hands or staked to the ground and every slave on the plantation would be forced to watch the whipping to deter them from running away.http://video.pbs.org/video/2176338574/01/06/2012Slaves who ran away from their masters and were re-captured suffered terrible punishments.tv-pgHistoryHistoryUnited StatesUnited StatesCliphttp://video.pbs.org/video/2181676369/As incredible as it sounds today, in the 1850s many Americans believed that slaves were incapable of thinking for themselves and could not survive on their own. They believed that the black man was created by God to serve a white master and found passages in the Bible to prove it. Some slave holders even argued that they were doing their slaves a favor by providing them with food and shelter.http://video.pbs.org/video/2181676369/01/06/2012In the 1850s many Americans believed that slaves were incapable of surviving on their own.tv-pgHistoryHistoryUnited StatesUnited StatesCliphttp://video.pbs.org/video/2181739273/Underground Railroad: The William Still Story is the story of a humble Philadelphia clerk who risked his life shepherding runaway slaves to freedom in the tumultuous years leading up to America's Civil War. William Still was the director of a complex network of abolitionists, sympathizers and safe houses that stretched from Philadelphia to what is now Southern Ontario.http://video.pbs.org/video/2181739273/01/06/2012This is the story of a man who risked his life shepherding runaway slaves to freedom.tv-pgHistoryHistoryUnited StatesUnited StatesPromotionhttp://video.pbs.org/video/2182002360/Underground Railroad: The William Still Story is the story of a humble Philadelphia clerk who risked his life shepherding runaway slaves to freedom in the tumultuous years leading up to America's Civil War. William Still was the director of a complex network of abolitionists, sympathizers and safe houses that stretched from Philadelphia to what is now Southern Ontario.http://video.pbs.org/video/2182002360/01/06/2012This is the story of a man who risked his life shepherding runaway slaves to freedom.nrHistoryHistoryBiography & ProfilesBiography & ProfilesUnited StatesUnited StatesPromotionhttp://video.pbs.org/video/2181701367/Drawing from the diaries he'd secretly kept during his years as the Philadelphia stationmaster, William Still published his definitive book on the Underground Railroad and the freedom seekers who used it. His passion for the cause of freedom was so great that when he died in 1902, The New York Times called him "The Father of the Underground Railroad".http://video.pbs.org/video/2181701367/01/06/2012William Still earned the name "The Father of the Underground Railroad".tv-pgHistoryHistoryBiography & ProfilesBiography & ProfilesUnited StatesUnited StatesCliphttp://video.pbs.org/video/2365024716/Program segment for PBS Learning Media.http://video.pbs.org/video/2365024716/06/11/2013Program segment for PBS Learning Media.tv-gHistoryHistoryUnited StatesUnited StatesCliphttp://video.pbs.org/video/2365024908/Program segment for PBS Learning Mediahttp://video.pbs.org/video/2365024908/06/11/2013Program segment for PBS Learning Mediatv-gHistoryHistoryUnited StatesUnited StatesCliphttp://video.pbs.org/video/2365024892/Program segment for PBS Learning Media.http://video.pbs.org/video/2365024892/06/11/2013Program segment for PBS Learning Media.tv-gHistoryHistoryUnited StatesUnited StatesCliphttp://video.pbs.org/video/2365024654/Program Segment for PBS Learning Mediahttp://video.pbs.org/video/2365024654/06/11/2013Program Segment for PBS Learning Mediatv-gHistoryHistoryUnited StatesUnited StatesCliphttp://video.pbs.org/video/2365024854/Program segment for PBS Learning Mediahttp://video.pbs.org/video/2365024854/06/11/2013Program segment for PBS Learning Mediatv-gHistoryHistoryUnited StatesUnited StatesCliphttp://video.pbs.org/video/2185956008/The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 was the last attempt by the government in Washington to appease the southern slave states and shut down the Underground Railroad. It required every state and territory in the United States to assist in the return of fugitive slaves and gave slave owners the right to seek them out even in states that had abolished slavery.http://video.pbs.org/video/2185956008/01/11/2012The Fugitive Slave Act was an attempt by the government to appease southern slave states.tv-pgHistoryHistoryUnited StatesUnited StatesCliphttp://video.pbs.org/video/2181724307/Underground Railroad: The Williams Still Story is the story of a humble Philadelphia clerk who risked his life shepherding runaway slaves to freedom in the tumultuous years leading up to America’s Civil War. William Still was the director of a complex network of abolitionists, sympathizers and safe houses that stretched from Philadelphia to what is now Southern Ontario.http://video.pbs.org/video/2181724307/01/06/2012This is the story of a man who risked his life shepherding runaway slaves to freedom.tv-pgHistoryHistoryUnited StatesUnited StatesEpisode