Trending
The Civil War Round Table of the Mid-Ohio Valley will be taking a trip to Muskingum County, Ohio, for the annual Underground Railroad Symposium.
The symposium is being held by Muskingum County History and will be 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sept. 30. The event will take place at Stone Academy Historic Site and Museum at 115 Jefferson St. in Zanesville, Ohio.
"The focus of the program will be the significance of Stone Academy and the Putnam Historic District to the Underground Railroad," said Peter Cultice, President of Muskingum County History. "As well as their significance to the Abolitionist Movement in America."
The event will consist of four sessions of speakers on topics of the program. The first speaker will be William C. Kashatus, author of "William Still: The Underground Railroad and the Angel at Philadelphia." Kashatus' book is the first major biography of the free black Abolitionist William Still, who coordinated the Eastern Line of the Underground Railroad and was a pillar of the Railroad as a whole.
Second speaker William Kerrigan, Professor of History at Muskingum University, will speak on the subject, "Putnam: Making the Case for National Significance." The Putnam Historic District in Zanesville was an important center of the Underground Railroad and was home to several abolitionists.
Betty Campbell is the third speaker of the event and is site manager for the John Rankin House National Historic Landmark. Campbell will be speaking about John Rankin, an American Presbyterian Minister as well as an educator and abolitionist. He became known as Ohio's first and most active "conductors" of the Underground Railroad.
The fourth session will consist of four separate speakers delivering on the topic of "The First Ohio Anti-Slavery Society Convention: Four Voices." Cultice will be speaking on Theodore Weld, an architect of the American abolitionist movement during its formative years through writing, editing, speaking, and organizing. Family Historian and author H.C. Howells IV will be speaking on H.C. Howells. Local historian and author Gary Felumlee will be speaking on James G. Birney, a major voice in the abolitionist movement and the first presidential candidate of the abolitionist Liberty Party. Muskingum County History Curator and Interim Director Mitch Taylor will be the last speaker of the session with his subject being John B. Mahan.
Muskingum County History is able to present the Underground Railroad Symposium because of its sponsors: Park National Bank, Muskingum County Community Foundation, and North Valley Bank. The program is free of charge and light refreshments as well as lunch will be provided at the symposium.
For more information or to pre-register for the event visit muskingumcountyhistory.org or call the Muskingum County History Office at 740-454-9500.