Third Friday Presents: From the Underground Railroad to Juneteenth
Friday, June 19th at 7 pm
Historian Larry McClellan takes broad look at the actions and reactions of Black and White Leadership in their work with the Underground Railroad, with the Civil War, and Juneteenth.
In the decades before the Civil War, more than 4500 enslaved people escaping from the South traveled across Illinois, with many coming to and through the Chicago region. With maps and images, Larry explores their stories - particularly those of people who left Chicago via Lake Michigan.
Larry is the author of Onward to Chicago: Freedom Seekers and the Underground Railroad in Northeastern Illinois [2023]. The book received the national 2023 Memorial Prize for the Advancement of Knowledge from the Underground Railroad Free Press.