Final answer:
The Underground Railroad was not operated by a single group but was a collaborative movement of diverse participants, including free-born blacks, white abolitionists, and others, with significant support from various churches and religious communities.
Step-by-step explanation:
The Underground Railroad was a clandestine network for helping enslaved African Americans escape bondage. It was not managed by any single group; rather, it was a broad-based movement with participation from people of various backgrounds, including free-born blacks, white abolitionists, former slaves, and Native Americans.
Conductors, who led the escapees from one safe location to the next, originated from these diverse groups. Churches played a significant role as well, with the Society of Friends (Quakers), Congregationalists, Wesleyans, and Reformed Presbyterians being heavily involved, along with some Methodist and American Baptist sectors.
To prevent infiltration by slave catchers or betrayal, each individual involved only knew their part in the operation and had limited knowledge of the overall network. The routes often brought runaways north to free states and Canada, though some headed to Mexico or overseas.
Notable figures such as Harriet Tubman and others risked their lives to operate these escape routes, despite the precursors to and the passing of the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850, which made such activities illegal.