HISTORIX Vintage 1941 Underground Railroad Map of the United States - Vintage Underground Railroad Map of United States Wall Art Poster

Issued in 1941, this depiction of routes used by enslaved black people in the United States seeking freedom in the Northern States or Canada remains an enduring image of the fight for freedom among these communities during the nineteenth century. One of the most iconic figures of the Underground Railroad, Harriet Tubman, performed thirteen trips back into Southern states and helped bring seventy people to freedom and gained her the nickname "The Moses of Her People." Due to the danger and need for secrecy, the Underground Railroad consisted of a hidden network of depots, homes, and citizens who collectively worked towards freeing enslaved people until President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, which effectively ended slavery in the United States, though would ultimately lead to the American Civil War which would last until 1865.

This map was produced by the Federal Writers' Project was developed during the Great Depression to give work to unemployed writers as part of the WPA under the New Deal, which was implemented by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The Underground Railroad utilized standard train conducting terms in their codes to give participants an easy-to-understand vocabulary due to rail being the most common means of travel during the middle portion of the nineteenth century.

The Underground Railroad remains one of the most enduring legacies of the fight for freedom for Black Americans. This is a true piece of American cartographical history that immediately transports the viewer back in time, creating a bond between the past and present.