MARSHALL, Ill. (WTWO/WAWV) — A new exhibit at the Marshall Public Library highlights the courageous stories of freedom seekers and multi-racial conductors who assisted them on the Underground Railroad in Illinois.
The exhibit is called “Journey to Freedom: Illinois’ Underground Railroad” and will be open to the public from April 10 through May 30 in the newly renovated Illinois Room at the library.
The exhibit tells the stories of freedom seekers, conductors and communities in Illinois who were part of the journey to freedom. Visitors will be able to learn these stories through photos, videos, maps, personal stories and illustrations created specifically for the exhibit.
“Highlighted stories include freedom seekers John and Eliza Little, who traveled barefoot through Illinois to Canada to gain their freedom, or conductors like Henry, who worked for Abraham Lincoln, and Mary Ann King Brown, who helped the enslaved to freedom in Springfield, Quincy, and Galena areas,” said the Marshall Public Library.
In conjunction with the exhibit, the library will present a kick-of performance of award-winning folk musician Chris Vallillo on April 10, at 6:30 p.m.
The show will feature rare first-person accounts of freedom seekers like John and Mary Little, who traveled on foot 140 miles to Chicago, and George Burroughs, a black Canadian who worked on the Illinois Central Railroad where he helped smuggle escapees to freedom.
For more information on the exhibit, you can call the library at 217-826-2535 or go to their website.
