Why is Underground Railroad history important?
Too often history is something that happens to other people in other places in other times. It does not touch us. Local history can be the key to unlocking the power of history. When you stand in the very room that a runaway slave stood, history comes alive. Freedom was so important that the slave risked everything – including life and limb – to obtain it. People just like you – no matter your color, your age, your sex, your religion – defied the law and helped the runaways. People in your town. And doesn’t that make you think – has enough changed since runaways hid in this room? Over 100 years ago, the abolitionist Abby Kelly Foster spoke in Ohio. She said that we would only have emancipation by working a thorough change in the minds, hearts and consciences of the people. She said that slaves must not only be freed but given absolute equality before the law. She also said that slavery cannot be abolished without destroying that twin relic of barbarism – prejudice against color; and th
