The Underground Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania

09/03/2026

New and noteworthy!

For fans of Master Slave Husband Wife and Django Unchained comes the extraordinary forgotten story of an event known in its day as “the first shots...

09/03/2026

Today in Underground Railroad History…
On this day in 1853, William Thomas, a fugitive slave working in a Wilkes-Barre hotel, is apprehended by US Marshals but manages to break free and dives into the Susquehanna River, taking a bullet in the process. An enraged crowd persuades the lawmen to leave town and Thomas is able to drag himself to safety. Local abolitionist William Gildersleeve will assist Thomas in his quest for freedom, moving him to Canada, and later testifies in a Supreme Court case triggered by this event.

09/03/2026

Our September newsletter is out in the wild...subscribers check your inboxes and everyone else here is a link to the sign-up page: https://ugrrmuseumpa.org/newsletter/ Please share! To answer a question we are being asked...if you are unable to attend the Sep. 12 Gala, we do plan to post a free PDF of the 40-page Keepsake Program later this month.

09/03/2026

Today in Underground Railroad History…
On this day in 1838, Frederick Douglass boards a train in Baltimore disguised as a free black sailor. He makes his way to New York City, where he celebrates his first day of freedom. “I lived more in one day than in a year of my slave life,” Douglass will recall. “It was a time of joyous excitement which words can but tamely describe.”
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09/02/2026

Today in Underground Railroad History…
On this day in 1833, Oberlin College is founded in Ohio. Two years later, it becomes one of the first US colleges to admit African American students. Under president Charles Finney, the school becomes a hotbed of abolitionist activity in the 1850s, with students aiding townspeople in their Underground Railroad activities.
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09/02/2026

Today in Underground Railroad History…
On this day in 1834, a mob assembles in Columbia in the middle of the night and attacks the home of an African American resident of Front Street, who escapes unharmed. His porch is destroyed and his house sustains considerable damage. It is the third significant anti-Black incident in the town in a month during a summer that has seen this type of rioting in most major American cities.
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09/02/2026

Today in Underground Railroad History…
On this day in 1839, “The Long, Low Black Schooner” opens to a packed theater in New York. The play tells the story of the Mende captives on the slave ship Amistad.
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08/31/2026

Today in Underground Railroad History…
On this day in 1817, an enslaved woman named Tempe is beaten to within an inch of her life by her master, Risdon Price. She will file a complaint against Risdon in a Missouri court and seek $500 in damages, as well as her freedom—claiming her previous master had taken her north for several years. In 1821, a jury finds in her favor, granting her freedom, but awarding her just one cent in damages.
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08/30/2026

Today in Underground Railroad History…
On this day in 1836, New York real estate speculators run a newspaper ad for a new city in the Republic of Texas they have named Houston. Of the 1,060 African Americans living in Houston when the city is incorporated the following year, all but eight are enslaved people.
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