The Underground Railroad: The Paths & Places of Refuge
PBS Western Reserve (WNEO 45.1 / WEAO 49.1):
Thursday, June 5, at 11 PM
Friday, June 6, at 3 AM
Sunday, June 8, at 1 AM
This new documentary traces the dynamic journeys of enslaved individuals to freedom through the various secret networks and routes known as the Underground Railroad. The film centers around William and Ellen Craft’s passage to freedom, meticulously documented in Running A Thousand Miles for Freedom. An enslaved married couple, the Crafts found their way to freedom through multiple modes of transportation and by hiding in plain sight, Ellen posing as a white male planter and William as her enslaved companion.
The film covers the more widely known and celebrated Freedom Seekers as well as unnamed others who created and executed covert operations to move themselves and others out of the perils of enslavement. It also examines how enslaved people in America defined freedom for themselves and others, some while still remaining enslaved themselves.
Starting in the Port of Savannah, Georgia, and ending at the Washington Avenue Pier in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the film follows the various paths and places of refuge through multiple scenes and sheds light on the steps Freedom Seekers took to find freedom. It honors the landscapes, buildings, and communities that served as havens for the Freedom Seekers, bringing these places into focus and celebrating the bravery of both those who passed through them and those who served as conductors along the way.
