Shawnee State University to host Underground Railroad program
Apr. 19—PORTSMOUTH — Shawnee State University will host a public gathering on local Underground Railroad history in the Tri-State at 10:30 a.m. Monday.
Co-sponsored by the National Park Service's National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom, the program will mark the start of a three-year, Tri-State historical marker and tourism initiative, which has been funded by the Appalachian Regional Commission's POWER Grant program.
The public program will provide an overview of the Freedom Heritage Tourism Initiative, led by the Lawrence Economic Development Corp.with partners in five Ohio, two Kentucky and two West Virginian counties.
The program is open to anyone interested in regional history, Marty Conley, director of the Lawrence County Convention and Visitors Bureau, said.
"We need to hear from the voices of the community to preserve the local historical sites for future generations," Conley said. Local and county leaders, as well as economic and tourism officials are encouraged to attend to understand the importance of local history and the impact it has on an area's economy, culture and quality of life.
Dr. Andrew Feight, director of the Center for Public History at Shawnee State University, and Dr. Cicero M. Fain III, assistant provost for Inclusive Excellence at Marshall University and author of "Black Huntington: An Appalachian Story," will direct the research and community outreach involved in identifying, researching and nominating Underground Railroad historical sites to the National Park Service's National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom.
"The Tri-State region has a rich and dramatic history of Underground Railroad activity," Feight said. "With the Ohio River running through the region, having once separated the slave-holding states of Kentucky and West Virginia from the free state of Ohio, this local history reminds us that American history happened right here."
National Park Service officials will discuss the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom program and how it has helped other American communities with their economic development and tourism efforts.
"The identification, documentation and preservation of previously unknown sites on the Underground Railroad is not only fundamental to chronicling an important chapter of the unwritten history of the region, but critical to the development of a diversified cultural heritage tourism industry in the region and state," Fain said.
For more information, contact Conley at marty@visitlawrenceohio.com or call (740) 377-4550; Feight at afeight@shawnee.edu or (740) 351-3143; or Fain at fainc@marshall.edu or (304) 696-2721.
