The Underground Railroad, while not a real means of transportation, was a freedom movement relying upon the bravery of free and enslaved Africans, and the many who were actively opposed to slavery - the abolitionists whether of Native, European or African backgrounds. 

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Narrative of the Life and Sufferings
of Rev. Richard Warren, 1856
PAMPH 1856 #42
BIBLiON : The AO Library Catalogue
Archives of Ontario Library Collection

When the British Imperial Act of 1833 was passed in Britain, it ended the enslavement of Africans in the British Empire which included Canada. Effective August 1st,1834, it was the first global human rights legislation impacting the situation of Africans and other enslaved peoples.

An image of the original hand-written act appears to the right and a printed copy can be seen below.  

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1833 British Imperial Act
Courtesy of Parliamentary Archives, U. K.

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1833 British Imperial Act
Courtesy of Parliamentary Archives, U. K.

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[Reverend?] Horace Hawkins, [ca. 1890s]
Alvin D. McCurdy fonds
Reference Code: F 2076-16-3-4
Archives of Ontario, I0027805

When it became known that Canada offered the chance for freedom, carefully guarded excursions were quickly organized with a minimum of detail being shared.  Many slave narratives end, “and they went to Canada”, implying that self-freed Africans landed only in some unknown northern area or in the border cities of Windsor, Collingwood, Toronto or St. Catharines.  However, Canada usually meant any number of rural or urban areas in Ontario. 

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Remains of Old Mission House, Sandwich, 1895
Alvin D. McCurdy fonds
Reference Code: F 2076, Box D-4
Archives of Ontario, I0027877

Harriet Beecher Stowe's book, Uncle Tom's Cabin, was the best selling novel of the 19th century and helped to raise the general awareness of slavery. The book was inspired by the life of Reverend Josiah Henson who had been a slave for 41 years until, in 1830, he and his family escaped to Upper Canada via the Underground Railroad. Henson became synonymous with "Uncle Tom" the central character of the novel.

Uncle Tom's Cabin, Inside Cover
Harriet Beecher Stowe
Alvin D. McCurdy fonds
Reference Code: F 2076-15-0-130
Archives of Ontario

The story of Black Canadians is one that has been pieced together through oral histories, stories passed down through generations, and documents created by a variety of groups, individuals and official sources. In order to protect their means of arriving in Canada, former enslaved Africans were often secretive.

Mary Louisa Pipkin, born circa 1820, was a freedom seeker who settled in Toronto after having escaped enslavement in Maryland in 1853 at the age of 33 with her husband, Jefferson, age 43. In Canada, the Pipkins worked to be united with their four enslaved children who had been left behind in the United States. Mary worked as a laundress and for the Austin family at Spadina House. She died on March 24, 1888 in Newmarket and was buried at Necropolis Cemetery in Toronto.

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Mary Louisa Pipkin, ca. 1870s
Anne Arthurs
Oil on canvas
From the private collection of a descendant of the artist

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Excerpt from the emancipation papers of
Susan Holton, Ohio, 1848
Fonds Alvin D. McCurdy
Reference Code: F 2076-1-0-15
Archives of Ontario
See text version of emancipation papers of Susan Holton.