How Freedom-seeking People Took Enormous Risks and Survived the Civil War

Seating is limited | RSVP suggested |

How Freedom-seeking People Took Enormous Risks and Survived the Civil War

presented by

Amy Murrell Taylor , Ph.D.

T. Marshall Hahn Jr. Professor of History, University of Kentucky

The history of the liberation of four million men, women, and children from slavery in the United States is often told as the story of Abraham Lincoln’s issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation. This talk expands that story by looking at the emergence of “contraband” (refugee) camps, large settlements of men, women, and children who fled slavery during the Civil War and sought protection inside the lines of the Union army in places like Nashville. It tells untold stories of the many people and contingent moments that accomplished the work of emancipation, with attention to how freedom-seeking people took enormous risks and managed to survive this destructive, deadly war. How they secured food, shelter, and clothing—and began building new lives in freedom as the Civil War raged around them—will be the focus of this talk.

Friends of Fort Negley Park and Metro Parks present Path to Freedom, an annual free public lecture in celebration of International Underground Railroad Month. In 2020 Fort Negley Park joined the National Parks Service program National Underground Railroad Network To Freedom. This program honors, preserves and promotes the history of resistance to enslavement through escape and flight. Explore over 700 Network to Freedom sites at NPS.gov.