In honor of Black History Month, this free online program will explore the complex stories of the Underground Railroad, with an emphasis on its operation in and around Chicago. The program will be co-presented by Barry Jurgensen and Dr. Larry McClellan.
Barry Jurgensen serves as the Midwest Regional Manager of the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom program of the National Park Service. This program honors, preserves and promotes the history of resistance to enslavement through escape and flight, which continues to inspire people worldwide. Through its mission, the Network to Freedom helps to advance the idea that all human beings embrace the right to self-determination and freedom from oppression.
Dr. Larry McClellan is Emeritus Professor of Sociology and Community Studies at Governors State University, which he helped create in 1970. He is the author of the award-winning Onward to Chicago: Freedom Seekers and the Underground Railroad in Northeastern Illinois, published in 2023 by Southern Illinois University Press. The Underground Railroad Free Press wrote:
”Of all of the regional works on the Underground Railroad that we have seen, this book is perhaps the most detailed . . . This is the finest book yet of which we are aware for a close-up look at the Underground Railroad as it actually happened.”
The program is free of charge, but registration is required. Attendees will receive the Zoom link a few days in advance. The presentation will be recorded and a link will be provided to all registrants which will remain active for seven days. This program is co-sponsored by Glessner House, Second Presbyterian Church, Friends of Historic Second Church, and Quinn Chapel A.M.E. Church.