Global Reading >> True or False

1. Just like Uncle Tom in Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Josiah Henson was a long-suffering slave who was unwilling to stand up for himself. (F)

(=According to Barbara Carter, Josiah Henson was a man of principle and totally different from Uncle Tom.)

2. All the men and women who forged the Underground Railroad were blacks. (F)

(=Some whites were driven by religious convictions and took part in this movement.)

3. These railroad conductors were frequently faced with death threats and warnings from the local government. (T)

4. Many fugitives chose Canada as their primary destination because slavery had been abolished there. (T)

Global Reading >> Part Division of the Text

Global Reading >> Further Understanding

I. Question and Answers

1. Both Josiah Henson and Uncle Tom were slaves. But in the eyes of Barbara Carter, they were different. In what way was Josiah Henson different from Uncle Tom?

(=Uncle Tom was an enduring slave and unwilling to struggle for himself, while Josiah Henson did what he believed was right and took an active part in the anti-slavery movement.)

2. Why was Henson called an African-American Moses?

(=In the Bible, Moses was the leader who brought the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt and led them to the Promised Land. Just like Moses, Henson helped hundreds of slaves escape to Canada and liberty, so he was called an African-American Moses.)

3. What was the Underground Railroad? Who forged it?

(=The Underground Railroad was a secret web of escape routes and safe houses. Many men and women, including both the blacks and whites, together forged it.)

4. Why does the author want to tell the readers the stories of the heroes of the Underground Railroad?

(=Because most of them remain too little remembered and their exploits are still largely unsung.)

II. Text Analysis

In this part, the author tells the stories of three civil-rights heroes. Who are they? Give the main idea of each story.