---
title: "The Refugee — AP African American Studies Definition"
description: "The Refugee (1856) is Benjamin Drew's collection of interviews with formerly enslaved people, including Harriet Tubman. Key source for AP African American Studies Topic 2.20."
canonical: "https://fiveable.me/ap-african-american-studies/key-terms/the-refugee"
type: "key-term"
subject: "AP African American Studies"
unit: "Unit 2"
---

# The Refugee — AP African American Studies Definition

## Definition

The Refugee (1856) is Benjamin Drew's published collection of interviews with formerly enslaved African Americans who fled to Canada, preserving firsthand testimony (including Harriet Tubman's) about slavery and the Underground Railroad for an abolitionist audience.

## What It Is

**The Refugee** is an 1856 book by [abolitionist](/ap-african-american-studies/unit-2/20-abolitionism-and-the-underground-railroad/study-guide/pKJA8ozY2at2IfTR "fv-autolink") Benjamin Drew, made up of interviews and reflections from formerly enslaved African Americans who had escaped slavery and resettled as refugees, many of them in Canada. Drew recorded their words directly, keeping each speaker's specific language. That choice mattered. Instead of a white author describing slavery secondhand, readers got testimony straight from people who had lived it.

For [AP African American Studies](/ap-african-american-studies "fv-autolink"), the most famous voice in the collection is [Harriet Tubman](/ap-african-american-studies/key-terms/harriet-tubman "fv-autolink"). Her recorded reflections include lines like "I think slavery is the next thing to hell" and her observation that she had "seen hundreds of escaped slaves" but never one willing to return to bondage. The Refugee is a primary source that documents the human side of the Underground Railroad described in EK 2.20.A.1, the covert network that helped freedom seekers resettle in the North, Canada, and Mexico. The book itself was abolitionist evidence, built to counter pro-slavery claims that enslaved people were content.

## Why It Matters

The Refugee lives in **Topic 2.20 (Race to the Promised Land: Abolitionism and the Underground Railroad)** in [Unit 2](/ap-african-american-studies/unit-2 "fv-autolink"): [Freedom](/ap-african-american-studies/unit-2/21-legacies-of-resistance-in-african-american-art-and-photography/study-guide/i6dgSRQeJckJJ4Qe "fv-autolink"), Enslavement, and Resistance. It supports learning objective **AP African American Studies 2.20.A** (the role and scale of the Underground Railroad) and **2.20.B** (Tubman's contributions to abolitionism). The CED estimates about 30,000 African Americans reached freedom through the Underground Railroad (EK 2.20.A.2), and The Refugee puts faces and voices on that number. It also shows you how abolitionists fought slavery with print. Publishing testimony in refugees' own words turned individual escapes into a public argument. Since AP African American Studies is built around source analysis, this is exactly the kind of text the exam hands you and asks: what did the author want this to do, and for whom?

## Connections

### [Harriet Tubman (Unit 2)](/ap-african-american-studies/key-terms/harriet-tubman)

Tubman's words in The Refugee are some of her earliest recorded reflections. The same woman Drew interviewed in 1856 went on to lead the [Combahee River raid](/ap-african-american-studies/key-terms/combahee-river-raid "fv-autolink"), so the book connects Tubman the Underground Railroad conductor to Tubman the Civil War military leader.

### [Fugitive Slave Acts (Unit 2)](/ap-african-american-studies/key-terms/fugitive-slave-acts)

The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 made the free North unsafe for escapees, which is exactly why Drew's interview subjects were refugees in Canada. The law explains the book's title. They weren't just runaways; they were people pushed beyond U.S. borders to stay free.

### Underground Railroad (Unit 2)

EK 2.20.A.1 defines the Underground Railroad as a covert network helping people resettle in the North, Canada, and Mexico. The Refugee is what the Canada endpoint of that network sounded like, told by the roughly 30,000 people the network helped reach freedom.

### [Spirituals (Unit 2)](/ap-african-american-studies/key-terms/spirituals)

Tubman used [spirituals](/ap-african-american-studies/key-terms/spirituals "fv-autolink") to signal escape plans to enslaved people (EK 2.20.B.1). Both spirituals and Drew's interviews are forms of Black voice carrying coded or direct resistance, one sung in the South, one published in print for Northern readers.

## On the AP Exam

The Refugee shows up as a source-analysis text. A typical multiple-choice stem quotes a line from Drew's interviews, often Tubman's ("I think slavery is the next thing to hell" or "I never saw one who was willing to go back and be a slave"), then asks about purpose and audience. Why did Drew preserve Tubman's exact language and dialect? What did the line about being unable to see friends in her "native land" do for an abolitionist publication? The skill being tested is reading a primary source rhetorically. You need to identify that Drew's audience was Northern abolitionist readers, that firsthand Black testimony countered pro-slavery propaganda, and that personal details (separation from family, refusal to return) made an emotional and moral case against slavery. On a free-response source question, connect the excerpt back to Topic 2.20 content like the Underground Railroad's scale and the Fugitive Slave Acts that drove refugees to Canada.

## The Refugee vs Self-authored slave narratives

The Refugee is not an autobiography. Slave narratives like Frederick Douglass's were written by formerly enslaved authors themselves, while The Refugee is a collection of interviews recorded and published by Benjamin Drew, a white abolitionist. The distinction matters on the exam because the author and the speaker are different people. Drew shaped the publication, but the testimony belongs to the refugees, and questions often probe why Drew chose to preserve their exact words rather than paraphrase.

## Key Takeaways

- The Refugee is an 1856 collection of interviews by abolitionist Benjamin Drew with formerly enslaved African Americans who escaped slavery, many resettling in Canada.
- Harriet Tubman's reflections in the book, including her line that slavery is "the next thing to hell," are her earliest recorded words and show up directly in exam questions.
- Drew preserved each speaker's specific language and dialect to give abolitionist readers authentic firsthand testimony, countering claims that enslaved people accepted bondage.
- The book documents the Canada endpoint of the Underground Railroad, the covert network the CED says helped an estimated 30,000 African Americans reach freedom (EK 2.20.A.1-2).
- The Fugitive Slave Acts of 1793 and 1850 explain why Drew's subjects were refugees outside the U.S.; the 1850 law made even the free North dangerous for escapees.
- On the exam, treat The Refugee as a source-analysis task and ask what the testimony accomplished for Drew's abolitionist audience and purpose.

## FAQs

### What is The Refugee in AP African American Studies?

The Refugee is an 1856 book by abolitionist Benjamin Drew collecting interviews with formerly [enslaved African Americans](/ap-african-american-studies/unit-2/19-black-political-radical-resistance/study-guide/irfzuDC8oenkD4GE "fv-autolink") who fled slavery, many to Canada. It appears in Topic 2.20 as a primary source on the Underground Railroad and includes Harriet Tubman's reflections.

### Did Harriet Tubman write The Refugee?

No. Benjamin Drew, a white abolitionist, recorded and published the interviews. Tubman is one of the people interviewed, and Drew preserved her exact words, including her statement that slavery is "the next thing to hell."

### How is The Refugee different from a slave narrative like Frederick Douglass's?

Douglass wrote his own autobiography, while The Refugee is a collection of interviews recorded by Drew. The voices belong to the refugees, but the publication and framing belong to a white abolitionist editor, a distinction exam questions about authorship and purpose often test.

### Why did Benjamin Drew record refugees' exact words and dialect?

Direct testimony in the speakers' own language gave abolitionist readers authentic, hard-to-dismiss evidence of slavery's cruelty. It countered pro-slavery propaganda that enslaved people were content and made the case personal rather than abstract.

### Why were the people in The Refugee living in Canada?

The Fugitive Slave Acts of 1793 and 1850 authorized the capture of escapees even in free Northern states, so true safety required leaving the U.S. The Underground Railroad helped freedom seekers resettle in the North, Canada, and Mexico (EK 2.20.A.1).

## Related Study Guides

- [2.20 Race to the Promised Land: Abolitionism and the Underground Railroad](/ap-african-american-studies/unit-2/20-abolitionism-and-the-underground-railroad/study-guide/pKJA8ozY2at2IfTR)

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