Your objectives when using this simulation include, primarily:

• To escape from your master's plantation in the South
• To make your way from the United States to Canada (and freedom)
• To escape with as many of your family members as possible.

The following sections explain how the various parts of the simulation work as well as browser recommendations to help maximize your experience.

Starting

When you begin the simulation, your persona randomly inherits three attributes: a geographic location in the South, a health status as a percentage of complete health, and an amount of money. You will begin your Flight enslaved in the South. Your objective will be to escape from your plantation and navigate your way to Canada, picking up family members along the way, without losing so much health that you can no longer sustain life.

Choose a Persona Screen: This screen contains an option to retrieve a saved simulation, a select box for choosing a difficulty level, a set of photographs of slaves who fled servitude, and a window in which to view biographical information about each of them.

First Time/New Simulation: To start the simulation, select the "Play" button at the lower right hand corner of the opening screen.

Difficulty Level: Select a difficulty level using the pull-down menu above the row of photographs. The difficulty level determines the number of family members you have, computes your beginning health and financial statuses, and affects the options available as you move across the map.

Persona: Assume the persona of one of the slaves who made the trip North by selecting their image. To help you decide whom to become, biographical information appears in the window below the photographs when you roll your mouse over each persona.

Flight

Main Simulation Screen: This screen consists of a status window in which you will be kept abreast of your location, escape status, health, and money; an event window in which your experiences will be related; a map on which you will see your current location indicated by a red circle, locations to which you will be able to move indicated by bright yellow circles, and nearby locations to which you will not be able to move indicated by dimmed yellow circles; and an options window in which the possible choices for your current turn will be displayed.

Event: Events consist of scenes taken from actual slave narratives. Each event affects you differently, and your status will be updated accordingly. Some events will increase your health or money, and some will decrease them. Others will have you escaping from your plantation, and still others will cause your recapture and return to servitude. We have not used direct quotes from the primary historical sources, but abstracted from them to fit into the context of the simulation. The source for each event is in the note directly beneath the text.

Turn: A turn consists of selecting one of the items in the options box or choosing a city on the map. Once you complete a turn, an event will be generated describing a scene from one of the slave narratives.

Plantation Options: When on the plantation with a status of "Not Escaped," you will be offered the following options:

• Attempt to escape
• Bide your time and await an opportunity to escape
• Seek news about your family (depends on difficulty level)

Flight Options: Once in flight with a status of "Escaped," the following four options will appear with varying frequencies:

• Move to another location by clicking on the map
• Stay where you are, rest, and regain strength
• Acquire money for your journey
• Seek news about your family

Fugitive slaves will always have the option of clicking on the map to move to another location. Your location and difficulty level will determine the availability of the other three options. Acquiring money will only be an option when in the North.

News about Family: Use this to gather news about your family. In addition, this option will give you access to your family members' status and whereabouts. Specifically, you will learn how many family members are traveling with you, how many remain in the South, and how many have made it to Canada. Depending on the difficulty level of your simulation, you may also learn where you will need to go to be reunited with one of your family members.

Reuniting with Family: To pick up family members, select the place on the map where they live. You will receive an event detailing your attempt to reunite with them. If you successfully reunite with them, the family member will begin traveling with you. The likelihood of recapture increases as you gain family members. If recaptured, the game will randomly relocate you and the family members traveling with you to different locations in the South. Family members will live safely in Canada once you cross the border with them.

Player Status: The choices you make along your journey will impact your health, financial, family, and escape statuses. Some events may even result in death. Your health will be given as a percentage between 0 and 100. If your health falls to 0, you will die and the simulation will end. Your money will be reported in dollars. Your family members can be enslaved in the South, traveling with you, or safely deposited in Canada. Your escape status can be "Not Escaped," "Escaping," or "Escaped." When you are "Not Escaped," you will get a flavor for what life on the plantation was like. When you are "Escaping," you will get a feel for what it was like to break out of bondage and head northward toward Canada. When you are "Escaped," you will learn what it was like to experience freedom.

You can engage the simulation until you lose so much health you can no longer continue, or until you stop fleeing by selecting the "Quit" button at the bottom right-hand corner of the screen. In either case, you will arrive at a screen summarizing your Flight by recounting the number of turns you took, your family status, and the amount of health and money you had at the end of your Flight.

If you have chosen to stop a session, you will receive a game identification number and a password so that you may return to your Flight at a later time. When you return, you will select "Play" and then choose to "Resume a Saved Game." When you select "Resume a Saved Game" you will be prompted to enter your id number and password.

Help Tips

In order to maximize your experience using this simulation, we recommend that you:

• Use Netscape 4.x and higher or Internet Explorer 5 and higher
• Enable javascript in your browser
• Enable cookies in your browser
• Set your screen/monitor resolution to at least 800 x 600

Enabling Javascript in Your Browser:

Enabling Cookies in Your Browser:

Setting Your Screen/Monitor Resolution to at Least 800 x 600:

If you experience any technical difficulties while using the Flight to Freedom web site, please contact the Educational Technology Center.