- This event has passed.
Songs Of The Illinois Freedom Road
Songs of the Illinois Freedom Road is the powerful new musical performance featuring the songs, stories, and struggles of the Illinois Underground Railroad. Don’t miss this performance at the Lincoln Log Cabin State Historic Site’s Visitor Center Auditorium on Saturday, August 23, at 2:00 p.m.
The show, with award-winning folk musician Chris Vallillo, features rare first-person accounts of freedom seekers who passed through Illinois. Highlighted stories include John and Mary Little, who traveled on foot 140 miles to Chicago, and George Burroughs, a black Canadian who worked on the Illinois Central Railroad where he helped smuggle escapees to freedom. Vallillo extensively researched the subject using primary source documents such as the 1857 Slave Narratives of Canada and the WPA Slave Narratives as well as the most recent scholarship on the subject. Vallillo combines these powerful stories with eleven historic songs that were sung by the enslaved to inspire and share knowledge among themselves.
This event is partially funded by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council Agency.
Journey to Freedom: Illinois’ Underground Railroad is a new temporary exhibit from Looking for Lincoln; check it out in the Sargent Gallery of the Visitor Center!
The Lincoln Log Cabin State Historic Site is located at 402 South Lincoln Highway Road, Lerna, IL 62440. For more information call 217-345-1845, or visit lincolnlogcabin.org