Sailing to Freedom: New Bedford and the Underground Railroad

FAIN: BH-50386-10

University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth (North Dartmouth, MA 02747-2356)
Timothy D. Walker (Project Director: March 2010 to June 2012)

Two one-week Landmarks workshops for eighty school teachers to explore New Bedford, Massachusetts as a historical landmark for abolitionism and the Underground Railroad.

Sailing to Freedom connects New Bedford's maritime heritage as a whaling and seafaring port with its role as an Underground Railroad hub during the expansion and antebellum period of 1800 - 1860. Nationally known fugitives Frederick Douglass, John Jacobs and his sister Harriet, William Wells Brown and many others began their lives as free men and women once they reached New Bedford. This 2-week teacher institute will explore the connections between the abolitionist movement locally and nationally through historical sites in New Bedford.