The Underground Railroad, as traditionally understood, was a loose organization of abolitionists, anti-slavery societies, and vigilance committees based in the Northern states that provided aid to escaped slaves once they had escaped the Southern slave states. The Underground Railroad, however, was only able to offer very limited support to fleeing slaves while they were still in the South. While still in the South, fleeing slaves had to operate beneath the Underground Railroad, and rely on their own sources of aid and information to escape, with only the hope of further assistance once in the free states. This story of slave flight, and how the geography, laws, and communities of Maryland as a slave state aided or hindered escape, is the story Beneath the Underground: the Flight to Freedom seeks to reclaim.