Results: The underground railroad that ran South to Mexico

(Source: history.com) Unlike the northern free states, Mexico didn't agree to return fugitive slaves. The Underground Railroad ran south as well as north. For slaves in Texas, refuge in Canada must have seemed impossibly far away. Fortunately, slavery was also illegal in Mexico. Is this a fact you heard of before this survey?

Researchers estimate 5,000 to 10,000 people escaped from bondage into Mexico, says Maria Hammack, who is writing her dissertation about this topic at the University of Texas at Austin. But she thinks the actual number could be even higher. "These were clandestine routes and if you got caught you would be killed and lynched, so most people didn't leave a lot of records," says Hammack. Is the amount of people who escaped bigger than you thought?

There's some evidence that tejanos, or Mexicans in Texas, acted as "conductors" on the southern route by helping people get to Mexico. In addition, Hammack has also identified a black woman and two white men who helped enslaved workers escape and tried to find a home for them in Mexico. This is just the opposite now. Many people from Mexico do all they can to move to the US. Can you guess when this change happened? If you do, please let us know your theory in the comments below. Thanks.