Journal Entry

My name is Lillian, and I was born into slavery, my mom gave me 2 sisters, before Johnson took us all away. They took us away when I was 16, my sister April was 5 and Josephine was 3. On that day I swore to protect them. My Life at the Johnson plantation was brutal. When I was listening to master talk I overheard I was born in Virginia. I was never completely okay with being a slave, but that’s what everyone knew and followed. But then stories of a person called Moses came to our plantation, and the thoughts of running away became more relevant. When I heard masters plan of selling my sisters I made the decision that we were going to escape

I knew we had to head north to Canada, so I followed the North Star. I walked and walked until I felt like my legs would collapse at any moment. Then the sun started to rise, and we took shelter in nearby cave. I set down April and Josephine and covered them with the blanket I had managed to take. Once I was comfortable I fell asleep beside them.

I woke up and saw that both of them were still sleeping. I sat up and stretched and saw that there was still too much light to continue our journey. I knew the plantation was very close to the border of Virginia because I had secretly studied masters maps that he kept in his drawer, and by now we must close to Pennsylvania

By now we had been walking for days, and we spotted a light. Nervously I walked over to investigate what it was while I made my sisters hide in a bush. As I got closer I saw that it was a house! And not just any house, but a stop on the Underground Railroad! I had known because the said that if a house had a sign of a slave with an oil lamp it was a stop. I called my sisters out and once we were together I held up my arm and knocked on the door. The voice of a man came from behind the door asking who it was, I had thought back to the rumors of the Underground Railroad and tried to remember the saying. A friend with friends? I had guessed, hoping that it was correct. The man opened the door smiling slightly and invited us in; he led us to the kitchen where a woman who looked to be his wife was cooking. I smiled politely and introduced all of us. I told her that we had travelled a long way and only ask to spend the night, if that is not too much, she smiled and answered ‘’you’ve made it all the way to Pennsylvania, should stay longer and rest up”, but I insisted. These people fed us lots of food and gave us a warm bed to sleep in.

They gave us breakfast and we ate until we could not eat anymore. We were on our way to a new life. After a few hours of walked north we came across a river, and I knew immediately where we were. We were at the border of slavery and freedom. On the other side of those rippling tides were the freedom we craved, but April and Josephine didn’t know how to swim. With out hesitation I put Josephine on my back and swam across, once we got to the other side I dropped her off and went back to the other side of the riverbank. My second trip across the river I started feeling numb from the cold water, I swam as fast as I could across the river. Once we got there I jumped out freezing and shaking with energy and excited we all hugged because we were finally here. We were finally free.