Eating on the Underground Railroad
28 people escaping from the Eastern shore of Maryland, Courtesy of the New York Public library
What we know about the underground railroad comes from slave narratives, autobiographies, the runaway accounts William Stills documented (see below), and stories in published in newspapers. For example, we know that the revolutionary Harriet Tubman courageously returned to the southern Border States such as Maryland, Kentucky, and Virginia to name a few to lead enslaved people to freedom. But the number of times she did this and the number of people she led to freedom is unclear. We do no that most runaways across the Americas survived on a diet of foraged plants, berries, herbs, and small game like rabbits and squirrels, fish and oysters. Below is a simple African American Maryland recipe made from a foraged plant.
BOILED POKE GREENS [Maryland Recipe]
Use the first shoots of the pokeberry plant, about six to eight inches tall. Wash thoroughly in cold water. Put in pot with cold water, without removing leaves or stem, and cook about half an hour until done. Drain and serve hot with melted butter, pepper, salt and drawn butter (or hollandaise sauce).
Crosby Gaige, New York World's Fair Cook Book: The American Kitchen, (Garden City, New York DoubleDay, Doran and Company Inc., Country Life, First Edition, Press,1939)
Related Stories and Content:
Records of Underground Railroad Conductor William Stills
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