Freedom Via Water! Freedom Seekers and the Underground Railroad on and Near Lake Michigan

Join presenter Dr. Larry McClellan and the Michigan Maritime Museum on Wednesday, February 12th at 6:30 PM as McClellan weaves a tale of freedom seekers in the Great Lakes region. Freedom via Water! Freedom Seekers and the Underground Railroad on and near Lake Michigan will discuss the decades before the Civil War when hundreds of freedom seekers escaping their enslavement in the South made their way to Chicago and then onward to Detroit and freedom in Canada. They traveled on and near Lake Michigan and once in Detroit, crossed Lake Huron to freedom. With images, maps and stories, this program will explore these journeys.

Dr. Larry A. McClellan is Professor Emeritus, Governors State University. His latest book: Onward to Chicago: Freedom Seekers and the Underground Railroad in Northeastern Illinois (2023) received the national Underground Railroad Free Press 2023 Memorial Prize Award for the Advancement of Knowledge and the 2024 Book Award for Superior Achievement from the Illinois State Historical Society. McClellan has spoken at 5 Illinois state history conferences and 3 national conferences of the National Park Service Network to Freedom program. Currently he is President of the Midwest Underground Railroad Network and serves on the Illinois Underground Railroad Task Force.

This lecture series is made possible thanks to the Nielsen-Wells Grant Fund and Mike & Susan Smith. Tickets are free for Museum members and $10 for non-members. Doors open at 6 PM.