#UNDERGROUND RAILROAD STORY SERIES#
#UNDERGROUND RAILROAD STORY WINDOWS#

The nameвЂ™s exact origins are unclear, but it was in wide use by the early 1840s. In truth, says Pulitzer PrizeвЂ“winning historian Eric Foner, the Underground Railroad consisted of вЂњlocal networks of anti-slavery people, both Black and white, who assisted fugitives in various ways,вЂќ from raising funds for the abolitionist cause to taking cases to court to hiding runaways in safe houses. Webber's 1893 painting of the Underground Railroad As Whitehead told NPR in 2016, this change was inspired by his вЂњchildhood notionвЂќ of the Underground Railroad as a вЂњliteral subway beneath the earthвЂќ-a surprisingly common misconception.Д¬harles T. The Underground RailroadвЂ™s biggest departure from history is its portrayal of the eponymous network as a literal rather than metaphorical transport system. Each step of the trip poses unique dangers beyond CoraвЂ™s control, and many of the individuals she encounters meet violent ends.) (The book follows CoraвЂ™s flight to freedom, detailing her protracted journey from Georgia to the Carolinas, Tennessee and Indiana. In WhiteheadвЂ™s own words, his novel seeks to convey вЂњthe truth of things, not the facts.вЂќ His characters are all fictional, and the bookвЂ™s plot, while grounded in historical truths, is similarly imagined in episodic form. (Spoilers for the novel ahead.) Did Colson Whitehead base The Underground Railroad on a true story? HereвЂ™s what you need to know about the historical context that undergirds the novel and streaming adaption ahead of вЂњThe Underground RailroadвЂќвЂ™s May 14 debut. These things are being visited upon them.вЂќ вЂњThe condition of slavery is not a thing thatвЂ™s fixed or static or that has fidelity to them as persons. And because of that, I think their personhood remains intact,вЂќ Jenkins tells Felix. вЂњIn a very nuanced way, even amidst the trauma, the people, the characters still retain their humanity. As writer Camonghne Felix details in Vanity Fair, Jenkins refuses to allow вЂњBlack trauma be the guiding vehicle of this story.вЂќ Instead, his narrative is one of вЂњBlack victory.вЂќ Jenkins-like Whitehead in the seriesвЂ™ source material-adopts an unflinching approach to the portrayal of slavery. Featuring South African actress Thuso Mbedu as Cora, Aaron Pierre as Caesar and Joel Edgerton as the slave catcher Ridgeway, the adaptation arrives amid a national reckoning on systemic injustice, as well as a renewed debate over cultural depictions of violence against Black bodies.

#UNDERGROUND RAILROAD STORY SERIES#

вЂњ The Underground Railroad,вЂќ a ten-part limited series out this week from Amazon Prime Video, offers Moonlight director Barry JenkinsвЂ™ interpretation of WhiteheadвЂ™s acclaimed work. In each state the train stops, Whitehead places a new, insidious manifestation of racism before his characters. Darkness pervades this alternative reality, which finds Cora and Caesar, a young man enslaved on the same Georgia plantation as her, using the railroad to find freedom. Set in antebellum America, WhiteheadвЂ™s Pulitzer PrizeвЂ“winning book envisions the Underground Railroad not as a network of abolitionists and safe houses, but as an actual train, with subterranean stations staffed by covert activists snaking north to freedom.

#UNDERGROUND RAILROAD STORY WINDOWS#

There was only darkness outside the windows on her journeys, and only ever would be darkness.вЂќ Later, toward the end of her harrowing escape from enslavement, the teenager realizes that the conductorвЂ™s comment was a вЂњjoke вЂ¦ from the start. Peering through the carriageвЂ™s slats, Cora sees вЂњonly darkness, mile after mile,вЂќ Whitehead writes. Look outside as you speed through, and youвЂ™ll find the true face of America.вЂќ

When Cora, the fictional protagonist of Colson WhiteheadвЂ™s 2016 novel The Underground Railroad, steps onto a boxcar bound for the North, the trainвЂ™s conductor offers her a wry word of advice: вЂњIf you want to see what this nation is all about, I always say, you have to ride the rails.

Underground railroad story