Is a southern stop on the underground railroad with a white 'conductor' credible?

[Derek Jackson]

I have a non alt history story idea. It includes a southern couple who disliked slavery (they certainly existed) who went North and were encouraged to set up a business in Tennessee to provide a stop for escaping slaves.

Is this imaginable?

Just how dangerous would that have been?

[TyranicusMaximus]

There is a story (Not sure if historical, or apocryphal) about a guy who taught slaves some songs to help them navigate the Underground Railroad

[Gosing]

Originally Posted by Derek Jackson

Just how dangerous would that have been?

Very, very dangerous. If caught, the man would almost certainly get lynched. The woman might get off with being tarred and feathered.

[Johnrankins]

Originally Posted by Gosing

Very, very dangerous. If caught, the man would almost certainly get lynched. The woman might get off with being tarred and feathered.

Yes, but from what I have read it did happen from time to time. Some of the conducters on the Underground Railroad in the South were White .

[MerryPrankster]

I would imagine it would be useful to have whites as Underground Railroad people because it'd be harder for slave-catchers to be high-handed with them.

(The slave-catchers could likely get away with tearing apart a free black's house and beating the crap out of him, but a white person, especially if they don't actually find any runaway slaves?)

Here's a list of historical figures associated with the URR. A lot of them were white:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Categor...ailroad_people

John Fairfield, for example, was from Virginia, while John Van Zandt was from Kentucky.

[Flocculencio]

From what I've read there were a number of white people involved with the Railroad- as Merry says it was in many ways safer for all concerned. IIRC a lot of Quakers were part of the movement.