Resources

2017 Network to Freedom Grant Project

In 2018, Boone County Public Library (BCPL) was awarded a grant through the National Park Service’s Network to Freedom (NTF) to compile resources from BCPL’s Boone County African American Research Collection and create a curriculum which would be the basis of an Underground Railroad Teacher Workshop. The grant funds are exclusively available to NTF-affiliate facilities, sites, and programs. In 2017, BCPL was named as an NTF-affiliate facility and the Underground Railroad of Boone County Bus Tour was also listed as an NTF-affiliate program. To see the final Teacher Workshop Curriculum, please click the link below:

The Underground Railroad: Boone County and the Flight to Freedom

For Teachers and Students

The Underground Railroad in Boone County Teacher Kit
Explore KY’s Slavery and Emancipation History
KET Kentucky’s Underground Railroad Passage to Freedom
National Park Service Network to Freedom

Researching the Underground Railroad

The business of the Underground Railroad was shrouded in secrecy. The law was on the side of slavery, so anyone assisting enslaved people to freedom was putting themselves in the position to suffer legal and financial consequences. Threats of violence against anyone acting upon or even announcing abolitionist views were common. People living in slaveholding territory had to be especially aware of secrecy, as the stakes were somewhat higher for those whose activities impacted nearby neighbors.

As a result of the high risk, many publications and historical news reports intentionally omit the names of those involved in the Underground Railroad, even long after the end of slavery. Included are some research techniques designed to help in the process of ferreting out hard-to-find Underground Railroad information.UGRR Research: Tips & Tricks