Facebook LIVE! Pathways to Freedom – The Underground Railroad and Illinois Freedom Project

On June 19, 1865, over two years after Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, enslaved people near Galveston, Texas learned they were free as Union troops arrived in the area. Juneteenth and the Thirteenth Amendment marked the culmination of a longer battle for freedom.

In the decades leading up to the Civil War, enslaved people navigated pathways to freedom through networks of secret escape routes and safe houses known as the Underground Railroad. These stories of Black Americans taking their freedom played out across Illinois and the Midwest.

Please join Deanda Johnson and Tim Townsend for a conversation with ALPLM Illinois and Midwest Studies Historian Dr. Jacob K. Friefeld on the ALPLM Facebook page, Thursday, June 17 at 7pm Central time. Johnson is the Midwest Regional Manager of the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom and Townsend is the Historian at the Lincoln Home National Historic Site and Project Coordinator for the Illinois Freedom Project. They’ll share knowledge about the Underground Railroad as well as the broader freedom movement in Illinois.

To watch this free virtual program, just go to the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum Facebook page at the appointed time and scroll to the post highlighting the live event. Once you’re there, simply click on the image and watch the live video stream. You’ll also have an opportunity to ask questions during the conversation.