CONTENT: This site from National Geographic Online offers a wide variety of materials that tell the story of the Underground Railroad.
AESTHETICS: This well designed site uses multimedia and interactivity to hold the user's interest. The background color and text work very well together.
ORGANIZATION: After clicking the "enter" button on the main page, each area of the site is easily accessed from a drop down menu at the top of each page.
REVIEW: This is a rich resource for teachers and students studying the Underground Railroad or slavery more generally. Perhaps the highlight of the site is the Journey that every student will want to take. It offers students the opportunity to interactively take the journey to freedom. By using historical photos and sound clips of spirituals of the day, students are transported in time to a virtual trip where they make the decisions about what would be the best choice to keep them safe and reach their goal. Included is a map of routes used by Harriet Tubman and others, a timeline that chronicles the rise of slavery from 1510 until it was abolished in 1865. There is also a section, specifically for younger children, which puts the information in a format that is more easily understood. Another section offers brief biographical sketches of those who played a major role in the flight to freedom. Included is a resource section to help teachers incorporate the materials into the classroom curriculum. Resources are grouped by grade level; K-4, 5-8 and 9-12.
