The Underground Railroad and the African-American Quest for Freedom

The Underground Railroad is one of the most epic sagas in American history. This presentation describes the heroic efforts of African-Americans and whites to hide and guide runaway slaves in their desperate journeys to freedom in the north and in Canada. Highlights of the presentation include the stories of escaping runaway slaves and their encounters with slave catchers and kidnappers; the courageous work of railroad “conductors” like Harriet Tubman; the role of plantation slavery, African-American churches and slave revolts in generating the growth of the Underground Railroad.

Ron Roth is former director and CEO of the Reading Public Museum in Reading, Pennsylvania, and director of the Nebraska Museum of Art of the University of Nebraska. As an independent curator and consultant, he researched and wrote the script for the permanent exhibition of the Central Pennsylvania African-American Museum and its exhibit on the Underground Railroad.