Underground To Canada

Julilly is the insightful, intelligent, and compassionate protagonist of Underground to Canada. Julilly is a 12-year-old girl who is, in the words of her Mammy Sally, “strong and tall” (29). Julilly is not weakened by her journey through the woods and mountains of the South, instead “growin’ strong as a horse” (76). As an enslaved person, Julilly has to wear a plain tow shirt that is made from the very rough parts of the flax plant. Later in the story, Julilly is thrilled to receive proper clothes from Catherine Coffin and discards her old clothing.

A dynamic character, Julilly’s perspective on the world changes over the course of the novel. Initially, Julilly is more child-like and naive. When her mother tells her about Canada, Julilly struggles to consider escape and freedom as a real option and does not believe that she and Mammy Sally would ever really be separated. In Chapter 1, Julilly thinks, “The slave trader meant some kind of trouble. But there had never been trouble on the Hensen plantation. She and Mammy Sally wouldn’t be sold” (16).

Julilly’s naivety can be attributed to her age as well as to her limited life experience as an enslaved person on the Hensen farm.