The Underground Railroad:
Journey to Freedom, developed by Muzzy Lane Software for National
Geographic Education is the winner of the Students’ Choice Award at I/ITSEC 2014,
being held in Orlando this week.
This award was
selected by middle and high school students from the games that address the learning
needs of this demographic and is one of the seven awards granted at the 10th
edition of the Serious Games Showcase & Challenge:- Best in each of the 3 Development Categories – Student, Business and Government
- - Student’s Choice
- - People’s Choice
- - Special Emphasis and
- -Mobile
The Serious Games Showcase & Challenge at I/ITSEC 2014
The Underground Railroad: Journey to Freedom by Muzzy Lane Software is a “choose your own journey” style game that incorporates 3-D experiences as students make a series of choices that affect their journey.
Played from a first-person perspective, the game
immerses students in the action as they play the role of a slave escaping from
a southern plantation and heading north toward freedom.
Along the route, students make key decisions that
lead them to one of several possible outcomes.
The
Underground Railroad: Journey to Freedom Booth at I/ITSEC 2014
Game Background
The
Underground Railroad was a secret network organized by people who helped men,
women, and children escape from slavery to freedom. It operated before the
Civil War (1861-1865) ended slavery in the United States. The Underground
Railroad provided hiding places, food, and often transportation for the
fugitives who were trying to escape slavery. Along the way, people also
provided directions for the safest way to get further north on the dangerous
journey to freedom.
The people
who helped slaves escape were called "conductors" or
"engineers." The places along the escape route were called
"stations." Sometimes escaping slaves were called
"passengers." Sometimes they were called "cargo" or
"goods." Conductors helped passengers get from one station to the
next. Sometimes they traveled with escaping slaves all the way from the South,
where they had been slaves, to the North or to Canada, where they would be
free. Sometimes the conductors traveled only a short distance and then handed
the escaping slaves to another helper. Engineers, who were the leaders of the
Underground Railroad, helped slaves who were running away by providing them
with food, shelter, and sometimes jobs. They hid the slaves from people who
were trying to catch them and return them to slavery.
A
well-organized network of people, who worked together in secret, ran the
Underground Railroad. The work of the Underground Railroad resulted in freedom
for many men, women, and children. It also helped undermine the institution of
slavery, which was finally ended in the United States during the Civil War.