The alternate history novel tells the story of Cora, a slave in the Antebellum South during the 19th century, who makes a bid for freedom from her Georgia plantation by following the Underground Railroad, which the novel depicts as a rail transport system with safe houses and secret routes.

During the era of slavery, the Underground Railroad was a network of routes, places, and people that helped enslaved people in the American South escape to the North.

In addition to showing the physical brutality of slavery, Whitehead develops a theme of the lasting psychic damage to enslaved people. Ajarry's kidnapping and repeated sale leaves her believing enslavement and the plantation represent the “fundamental principles” of her life.

Students will investigate through children's literature four basic themes related to the Underground Railroad:

• Desire for Freedom.
• Courage.
• Cooperation.
• Perseverance.

In reality, "The Underground Railroad" was a network of abolitionists, hidden routes, and safe houses that helped enslaved African-Americans escape to freedom in the early to mid-1800s. In the novel and the series, it is an actual railroad complete with engineers, conductors, tracks, and tunnels.

Whilst the novel and the series isn't entirely based on a true story, the network itself was very much a real thing and helped hundreds of thousands of slaves escape.

7 Facts About the Underground Railroad

• The Underground Railroad was neither underground nor a railroad.
• People used train-themed codewords on the Underground Railroad.
• The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 made it harder for enslaved people to escape.
• Harriet Tubman helped many people escape on the Underground Railroad.

“Underground” implies secrecy; “railroad” refers to the way people followed certain routes - with stops along the way - to get to their destination. The phrase wasn't something that one person decided to name the system but a term that people started using as more and more fugitives escaped through this network.

Freedom seekers that were captured were sent back into slavery and severely punished - some were even sold away from their families. These reasons and more made secrecy about this activity absolutely essential. It's because of this secrecy that we know very little about most freedom seekers and conductors.

The Underground Railroad was a network of people, African American as well as white, offering shelter and aid to escaped enslaved people from the South.

Notes from Underground Themes

• Thought vs. Action.
• Loneliness, Isolation, and Society. The underground man is a lonely, isolated character.
• Human Nature.
• Reason and Rationality.
• Spite, Pain, and Suffering.
• Literature and Writing.

In the opening chapter of the novel, Whitehead establishes the theme of slavery reducing human beings to objects. The horrors of Ajarry's journey to port, across the ocean, and between different American plantations are punctuated with detailed notes on her sale price at each point.