Porsha Stewart- Underground Railroad Didn't Have Train Cars? 'Real Housewives' Cast Surprised at Ignorance (VIDEO)
Porsha Stewart's Underground Railroad remarks during Sunday's episode of "Real Housewives of Atlanta" came as a shock to her costars and viewers, many of which are African-American. While on the Freedom Trail tour in Savannah, Ga., the recently divorced Stewart thought the Underground Railroad involved actual train cars.
Porsha Stewart's confusion about the Underground Railroad came when they stopped at a church in Savannah. The guide was explaining that the holes in the church floor were used for ventilation for slaves crawling underneath on the Underground Railroad— the term given to the network of people helping African-Americans escape from slavery in the 1800s. He mentioned that he didn't know how the slaves got underneath the floor, though, and Stewart revealed her ignorance on the subject.
"Well there has to be an opening for the railroad at some point because somebody's driving the train," she said to her costars. "It's not electric like we have now."
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Much of the cast of "RHOA" was shocked, like Kenya Moore, who called Stewart "so dumb" and NeNe Leakes, who said "ding dong!"
"You actually thought there was an actual train that took them through," Cynthia Bailey said in a confessional.
However, Phaedra Parks took a kinder approach and attempted to explain to Stewart a history lesson most children learn in elementary school.
"It wasn't a train, baby," Parks told her. "That was just a euphemism."
Some of the cast members were upset that Stewart, who mentions her grandfather and celebrated civil rights leader Hosea Williams often, did not know anything about the Underground Railroad.
"When Porsha was perplexed at how the train operated or 'who went down there first to make room' … I became incensed," Kenya Moore wrote on her blog after the incident. "It was crystal clear that Porsha did not know that the Underground Railroad was not a literal train!"
"Porsha is an embarrassment to her grandfather, his legacy, her family, and most importantly herself," she added. "Our educational system has failed her … anyone laughing at this gross ignorance has failed her."
