UNDERGROUND, the gripping new escape drama on

WGN America, tells the story of those unsung American

heroes, black and white, who struck the first blow

against slavery by creating the Underground Railroad.

The series follows a group of slaves who escape from

a Georgia plantation and make their way north with

the help of white abolitionists who are willing to

join them in defiance of the law and protect them

from their pursuers. At every step, these freedom

seekers must guard against discovery and betrayal as they

maneuver through an uncertain landscape amid the dangers of a hostile society. It

is a journey filled with risk and fear, daring and deception, courage and sacrifice, propelled

by an unwavering determination to break free.

Created by Misha Green and Joe Pokaski, UNDERGROUND stars Aldis Hodge, Jurnee

Smollett-Bell, Christopher Meloni, Alono Miller, Jessica De Gouw, Amirah Vann, Renwick

Scott, Marc Blucas, Mykelti Williamson, Adina Porter, Johnny Ray Gill, and Theodus Crane.

A WGN America Original Series, UNDERGROUND premieres Wednesday, March 9, at 10/9c.

To find WGN America in your area, visit http://wgnamerica.com/channel-finder.

© 2016 YMI, Inc.

© 2016 YMI, Inc.

The origins of the Underground Railroad reach back to the late 18th century, when free blacks and other opponents of slavery in the North began to organize on a local level to actively assist escaped slaves who found their way into their communities. By the 1830’s, these separate and largely uncoordinated efforts were being called the Underground Railroad, after the newly invented steam railroads then spreading across the United States.

In time, as more individuals became involved in the abolitionist movement, they began to cooperate, forming a secret network of supporters who sometimes used railway terms as a code to conceal their actions. Safe houses were called stations. Those who guided escaped slaves from station to station were called conductors. And the escaped slaves themselves were called passengers or cargo. Despite this borrowed terminology, however, the Underground Railroad was not a transportation system, and those who traveled on it needed initiative, resourcefulness, and luck to complete their journey.

Ironically, the mistaken belief that the Underground Railroad was a well-organized network of clandestine operatives probably had its origins in the South, where slaveholders imagined a far-reaching abolitionist

conspiracy to destroy their way of life. In this respect,

the Underground Railroad may have played a part in precipitating the Civil War. Its greater impact, however, was to consistently expose the brutal truth about slavery and demonstrate the heroism of those who escaped bondage, while providing an opportunity for black and white Americans to set aside their assumptions about one another and work together for change. In this way, those who traveled the Underground Railroad, like the characters in UNDERGROUND, changed our nation, helping us all break free.

UNDERGROUND presents an intense, suspenseful portrayal of the Underground Railroad that may come as a shock to those who imagine it as a secure network that safely conveyed slaves to freedom. In fact, as the series shows, the real experience of traveling on the Underground Railroad was far more arduous and unpredictable, more like a series of life-or-death decisions than a simple journey from one hiding place to the next.

UNDERGROUND takes viewers on a journey to freedom that continues today. Explore some of the choices and challenges we face on this journey with the discussion topics below.

• Bysomeestimates,morethan100,000peoplemadethe journey to freedom on the Underground Railroad. Looking back at the obstacles they faced, this could seem impossible, but it is in fact proof that the human spirit will always prevail, no matter what the odds. And in UNDERGROUND, we can see how this happens. What part does leadership play in beating the odds? How does self-sacrifice contribute to the group’s success? What other facets of the human spirit enable us to achieve what might seem impossible? And where do we see this indomitable spirit at work in our society today?

• ItiseasytobelievethatUNDERGROUND takes us back in time to a world completely unlike our own. But imagine for a moment that Congress has passed a law similar to the Fugitive Slave Act that requires all illegal immigrants to return to their country of origin. Under this law, U.S. citizens can have any immigrant declared an illegal simply by filing a formal claim, and any citizen who aids or employs an illegal immigrant can be imprisoned. Is such a law impossible in today’s world? How would such a law impact your family? Your community? Our society? How would you react to the law? How would such a law change the meaning of freedom for all Americans?

• LiketheslavesinUNDERGROUND,refugeesfromdecadesof war in the Middle East are today on a journey to freedom, traveling thousands of miles “to secure the blessings of liberty” for themselves and their children. What parallels can you find between today’s political refugees and the runaway slaves of American history? What factors make these two sets of freedom seekers very different? Looking to our past and our principles, what should be American society’s response to the refugees in your opinion?

• Morethanonehundredfiftyyearsago,theAmericanswho created the Underground Railroad set out together

on a journey to freedom that ultimatelyreaffirmed our nation's founding principle, that “all men are created equal.” How do you think they would react to the society we have built on their accomplishment? What might they say about the election of an African American to the White House? What might

they feel about the Black Lives Matter movement and the police violence against black youth that inspired it? How far have we come in our national journey to freedom? How far do we still have to go?

© 2016 YMI, Inc.

Network to Freedomwww.nps.gov/subjects/ugrr/discover_history/index.htmGateway to a National Park Service program that coordinates preservation and education efforts nationwide by integrating local

historical places, museums, and interpretive programs associated with the Underground Railroad into a mosaic of community, regional, and national stories.

Pathways to Freedom: Maryland and the Underground Railroadhttp://pathways.thinkport.org/flash_home.cfmA resource created for Maryland schools that includes background on the use of spirituals and quilts to guide escaped slaves to freedom.

National Underground Railroad Freedom Center

www.freedomcenter.orgOnline resources include “Enabling Freedom,” which provides a brief history of the Underground Railroad and profiles of some heroes in the fight to abolish slavery in the United States, along with information on the struggle to end slavery around the world in our own time.

Underground Railroadwww.historynet.com/underground-railroadBackground on the history of the Underground Railroad and links to many academic articles on specific topics connected with the African American journey to freedom.

• Harriet Tubman, one of the top candidates to become the new face on the $10 bill, was the most famous conductor on the Underground Railroad. Born into slavery herself, she escaped to Philadelphia in 1849, then immediately returned to the South to rescue her family. Eventually

she would make eighteen more trips south, in some cases slipping onto a plantation to organize an escape, and brought more than 300 slaves to freedom. Known as “Moses” for her role in guiding escaped slaves to the “Promised Land,” Harriet Tubman was said to have never lost a passenger.

• The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 marked a turning point in the history of the Underground Railroad. Until then, officials in the North had seldom enforced the laws against aiding an escaped slave. Under the Fugitive Slave Act, however, these officials faced heavy fines if they refused to act, and anyone who aided escaped slaves faced prison. The act also made a simple claim of ownership the only proof needed to arrest any African American as an escaped slave, giving slave catchers a virtual license to kidnap free blacks with a false claim and carry them south into slavery. Suddenly, for Northerners, black and white, support for the Underground Railroad became almost as dangerous as traveling on it, but the danger only deepened their opposition to slavery and helped bring on the war that would end it.

• Spirituals and Quilts may have played a role in guiding escaped slaves along the Underground Railroad. A nineteenth century biography of Harriet Tubman, Harriet, The Moses of Her People, recounts how she once used the spiritual “Go Down Moses” to reassure a group of escaped slaves that they had eluded a posse of slave catchers. Some have claimed that slaves also used spirituals like “Steal Away” and “Follow the Drinking Gourd” to send coded instructions for joining a planned escape. In addition, they may have developed a system of quilting patterns that were used to mark the way to safety or signal danger by hanging the appropriate quilt on a fence

© 2016 YMI, Inc.