By digitizing written records from a prominent Philadelphia abolitionist and employing modern mapping technology, a group of researchers at Temple University were able to trace the routes on parts of the Underground Railroad that were used by nearly 1,000 people to reach Philadelphia.
They found that enslaved people who escaped to the city from 1853 to 1861 most commonly came from areas in what is now Norfolk and Henrico County in Virginia; Dorchester and Baltimore counties in Maryland; and Sussex County in Delaware. The researchers hope this conclusion will create a more thorough understanding of how the network operated.
In a paper published in the International Journal of Humanities and Arts Computing, the research team led by geography professor Jeremy Mennis and African American studies professor Nilgun Anadolu-Okur referenced over 1,000 written accounts from the archives of William Still…