Underground Railroad expert speaking May 11 in Orrville

The Daughters of the American Revolution Wooster-Wayne Chapter invites the public to a free program on Ohio and the Underground Railroad at the Orrville Public Library on Saturday, May 11, beginning at 10:30 a.m.

Greg Roberts, an expert on the Underground Railroad, will speak on the role Ohio played in this movement, as well as include information on the trails northward that passed through the Northeast Ohio region.

The Underground Railroad was the resistance to enslavement through escape and flight. It was not underground, and there was no railroad involved. The Underground Railroad was a large network of both free blacks and whites who provided safe houses and passage from slave states to free states in the North and Canada, where slavery was illegal. The Ohio River Basin was a key link in the Underground Railroad, with many routes passing through the area before heading farther north.

The Ohio River National Freedom Corridor is a nonprofit organization that commemorates and promotes the importance of these passages throughout the Ohio River Watershed. Roberts is the director of the Ohio River National Freedom Corridor. In cooperation with the National Park Service-Network to Freedom, the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, Kentucky and Indiana, the Freedom Corridor works together to preserve and interpret Underground Railroad heritage and to educate the public about the region's historical and cultural significance in this movement.

Roberts is a recognized authority on local abolitionists and Underground Railroad history. He is a frequent speaker at historical societies and Underground Railroad conferences. He also is an expert on the life and times of Ohio’s own Ulysses S. Grant, the 18th U.S. president.

The program is free and open to the public. The DAR Wooster-Wayne Chapter is a volunteer service organization dedicated to preserving American history, promoting patriotism and securing America’s future through better education for children. For more information about the chapter or the DAR, email woowaydar@gmail.com.