The document summarizes key aspects of the Underground Railroad, which was a network that helped enslaved African Americans escape from southern states to freedom in the North and Canada between the 18th and 19th centuries. It describes how difficult and dangerous it was for slaves to escape, but that with the help of abolitionists, an estimated 100,000 slaves reached freedom this way before the end of the Civil War and abolition of slavery in 1865. Famous figures like Harriet Tubman played important roles in guiding slaves to freedom through the Underground Railroad.