VCU Year of Freedom Launches 2013 Lunchtime Brown Bag Discussions

By Mike Porter

In the decades leading up to the Civil War, the Underground Railroad was a secret network of routes and safe houses used to help slaves escape the South to northern states and Canada.

John Kneebone, Ph.D., chair of the Department of History in the College of Humanities and Sciences, said that while many people have images of slaves running across the Mason-Dixon Line or swimming across the Ohio River to freedom, escaping by ship was also a route to freedom in Virginia.

“So much so that in 1856 Virginia required inspections of all ships to prevent slaves from being carried to northern ports,” Kneebone said.  

Kneebone said Petersburg played a key role in the Underground Railroad.

In the 19^th century, ships traveled along the Appomattox River to carry tobacco from Petersburg to the North. And Kneebone said slaves, in fear of being sold to owners in the Deep South, would hide on ships or pay smugglers to transport them on ships to escape.

“These people became powerful symbols of the desire of slaves for freedom,” Kneebone said.

Kneebone will hold a talk titled “A Breakdown on the Underground Railroad: Petersburg,1858” to kick off the Year of Freedom spring 2013 schedule of lunchtime brown bag discussions. His talk takes place on Wednesday, Jan. 23, at noon in the University Student Commons Forum Room.  

Other upcoming discussions in the series are:

• John Coski, historian at the Museum of the Confederacy, will discuss “The Confederate Battle Flag: A Short History of A Controversial Symbol” on Feb. 6, in the Larrick Center’s Court End A.
  
  
• Katherine C. Bassard, Ph.D., chair of the VCU Department of English in the College of Humanities and Sciences, will talk on “Negotiating Freedom: Emancipation and Identity in Slave Narratives and Neo-Slave Narratives” on Feb. 20 in the University Student Commons Virginia Room A.
  
  
• Andrew H. Talkov, historian at the Virginia Historical Society, will discuss “Something Like Glory: The True History of Black Soldiers in the Civil War” on March 27 in the University Student Commons Forum Room. 
  
  
• Liz Canfield, assistant professor in the VCU Department of Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies in the College of Humanities and Sciences, will speak about “The Prison-Industrial Complex and Contemporary Abolition Movements” on April 10 at the University Student Commons Theater.
  
  
• The VCU Year of Freedom Committee, students and audience members will participate in an open discussion on the Year of Freedom titled “Recap: What Then? What Next?” on April 24 at the University Commons Forum Room.

All of the lunchtime brown bag discussions begin at noon and are free and open to the public.

For more information or special accommodations, contact Ryan K. Smith at rksmith3@vcu.edu or call 804-828-1635.

 

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