What was the UNDERGROUND RAILROAD?
It was neither a railroad nor was it necessarily underground. It was a name given to a network of people who hid slaves as they escaped to freedom.
The Underground Railroad was the first great freedom movement in the Americas. The movement started in Columbia, Pennsylvania in 1804 by a Quaker abolitionist named Levi Coffin. He used railroad terminology to confuse the slave catchers. A person leading the fugitives to freedom would be known as CONDUCTOR. It would be their responsibility to get the PASSENGERS(fugitives), from one Station(safehouse) to another until they would eventually reach a TERMINAL in northern U.S or Canada, where there was freedom. Sometimes Fugitives would be transported from one station to another in false-bottom wagons, such as the one you see on the screen