Newspaper Research

Newspaper Research

Adam Tyler

From "time traveling" back to the nineteenth century in Memphis, Alabama I've discovered that in newspapers, many "negroes" or "colored people" often tried to run away via the Underground Railroad and were usually brought back to their masters where they were tortured and punished. This was not a very big surprise to me, as I thought this is exactly what would have happened due to slave hunters, but to my surprise, it was mostly hounds that got them. I thought it was interesting that dogs can better look after slaves than people, since whites were supposed to be their masters. Using newspapers to look up information rather than the textbook seems to be more accurate of what actually happened since those newspapers were actually from the time slaves tried to escape while the textbook was made in the later days, so they probably didn't know all the details, so the newspapers are probably more accurate.