Thirty Days of Stories on the Underground Railroad in Kentucky
Celebrating September as International Underground Railroad Month
A Podcast Series presented by The Oldham County History Center on the Oldham Podcast Network
Thirty Days of Stories on the Underground Railroad is a series of podcasts created in celebration of September as International Underground Railroad Month. The National Park Service has declared September as International Underground Railroad Month and in Kentucky, the Oldham County History Center is celebrating by recording a podcast story on the Underground Railroad to broadcast each day of September.
The Oldham County History Center is providing most of the stories and each day a selected person will read a story that will include a short bio introduction of the reader and their interest in history.
“The stories come from our research at the Oldham County History Center, history experts, as well as a book that we published, A Tour on the Underground Railroad along the Ohio River, this year through the History Press,” according to Dr. Nancy Theiss, Executive Director of the Oldham County History Center.
The podcast is an opportunity for the History Center to help promote tourism and education about an important era of American history.
The Oldham County History Center has two sites on the National Park Service National Underground Railroad Network that were awarded in 2016. One of the sites, the Bibb Escapes/Gatewood Plantation is an archaeology field study that began in 2007, to study the life of Henry Bibb who was an important figure on the Underground Railroad. The other site is the J. C. Barnett Library and Archives which houses important slave papers from the James and Amanda Mount Collection as well as county court documents that document slave transactions during Oldham County’s Antebellum period leading up to the Civil War.
“In July we put out a call for readers and we have been overwhelmed by the positive response”, according to Dr. Theiss. “We have graduate students, school teachers, professors, authors, history center volunteers, directors of museums and actors who have volunteered as podcast readers and that represent not only Kentucky but include readers from Indiana, Texas, Ohio, Minnesota, Maryland, Georgia, England and Canada.”
The following is a list of stories and the cast of readers for the series
Thirty Days of Stories on the Underground Railroad in Kentucky
Thornton and Lucie Blackburn – From Kentucky to Detroit read by Dr. Karolyn Smardz Frost, Canadian Archaeologist and Historian, author of the award winning I’ve Got a Home in Glory Land. Listen
Delia Webster – Woman of Courage read by Erika Wardlow, retired school teacher, member of the Little Colonel Playhouse, portrays Delia Webster at the Oldham County History Center. Listen
Slavery and Court Records read by Kentucky State Representative and Speaker of the House, David W. Osborne. Listen
Salmon Chase – Defense for the Fugitive, Abolitionist, and Politician read by Jameson Cable, Lincoln County Kentucky school teacher and co-producer of the Kentucky history podcast Land Between the Meadows. Listen
Ferreting Freedom Seekers by Packet and Steamboats read by Russ Hatter, researcher at the Capitol City Museum in Frankfort, writer and known as “The Story Keeper in Frankfort”, member of the 12th US Colored Heavy Artillery Regiment. Listen
Rev. John Rankin – A Beacon of Light read by Regina Lang, Army Veteran and business owner of Freedom Tyme Legacy Tours in northern Kentucky. Listen
Resistance read by Josh Gonzalez, Partner and Manager of Foko Restaurant in Louisville, Activist on Social Justice issues for the Latino Community in Kentucky. Listen
Peter Bruner, Camp Nelson Soldier read by Robert Bell, recipient of the Morris Mount Roberts Fellowship and member of the 12th US Colored Heavy Artillery Regiment. Listen
Matilda Hamilton Fee, Kentucky Abolitionist read by Caroline Miller, author of Grape Vine Dispatch, researcher and historian, retired schoolteacher from Bracken County. Listen
Madison, Indiana and the Shallows read by Vivian Jones-Wright, retired Oldham County Deputy Sheriff, volunteer for Oldham County Youth Football League. Listen
Lucy Higgs Nichols read by Eileen Yanoviak, Executive Director of the Carnegie Center for Art and History in New Albany, Indiana. Listen
Louisville – Slave Traders and Free Blacks read by David Bizianes, Executive Director of the Oldham County Chamber of Commerce. Listen
Father of the Underground Railroad, Levi Coffin read by Kevin Eldridge, private business owner and Chairman of the Oldham County Historical Society Board of Directors. Listen
Laura Haviland, Underground Railroad Conductor read by Angel Nance, history homeschool teacher, Oldham County History Center member and supporter. Listen
Last but Not Forgotten – Black Union Soldiers at Camp Nelson read by Sherron Jackson, Senior Fellow for Policy Development at the Council on Postsecondary Education, member of the 12th US Colored Heavy Artillery Regiment. Listen
Juliet Miles – A Story of Courage and Sacrifice read by Rachael Pasierowska, PhD student at both Rice University and UNICAMP in Brazil with interest in reducing modern forms of slavery and forced labor. Listen
The Story of Josiah Henson – The Real Uncle Tom read by Melvin Diggs III, Junior honors student majoring in history at Eastern Kentucky University, member of the 12th US Colored Heavy Artillery Regiment. Listen
John Parker, Conductor on the Underground Railroad read by Benjamin Linzy, History PhD Candidate who hosts “Evoking History”, active advocate for human rights working with the Center for Urban Research Teaching & Outreach. Listen
Rev. John G. Fee – Kentucky Abolitionist and Underground Railroad Conductor read by Brian Cushing, Program Director at Historic Locust Grove in Louisville, KY. Listen
John Fairfield, Gun for Hire read by Dr. Jonathan Shorr, retired professor, University of Baltimore, podcast producer “Burning Bright” for Passager, publishers. Listen
Henry Bibb, Voice of the Fugitive read by Dr. Afua Cooper, History Dept., and Coordinator of Black Studies Program, Dalhousie University, and Poet Laureate Emerita, City of Halifax, Nova Scotia. Listen
Harriet Beecher Stowe and Uncle Tom’s Cabin read by Christina Hartlieb, Executive Director, Harriet Beecher Stowe House in Cincinnati, Ohio. Listen
Farmington, The Speed Family, and Slavery read by Kathy Nichols, Executive Director of The Farmington Historic Plantation. Listen
Escape of the 28 read by Eleanor Bingham Miller, Director and Producer of film documentaries, Board member for Fons Vitae Publishing Company, member of the Louisville Chapter of Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ). Listen
The Real Eliza Harris read by Ann Hagedorn, journalist and author of several books including Beyond the River: The Untold Stories of the Heroes of the Underground Railroad. Listen
A Free Metropolis – Cincinnati and the Margaret Garner Story read by Isabel Isenhart, native of Germany, parent of nine children, humanitarian for local and worldwide communities. Listen
Calvin Fairbank – 17 Years in Prison read by author and storyteller Bob Thompson. Bob is a regular on the WFPK radio show “Kentucky Homefront,” and his latest book is titled, Stitched Together, Stories from a Kentucky Life. Listen
Boone County, Kentucky and Slavery read by Bridget Striker, heads the history department at the Boone County Library where she developed an Underground Railroad car tour for Boone County. Listen
Slave Trader John Anderson and the Anderson Slave Jail read by Jeannine Kreinbrink, archaeologist who helped deconstruct and reconstruct the Anderson Slave Pen Jail displayed at the Cincinnati Freedom Center. Works on the Bibb Escapes/Gatewood Plantation site for the Oldham County History Center. Jeannine and Doug VonStrohe own the archaeology firm, K&V Cultural Resources Management. Listen
The National Park Service and the Underground Railroad Network read by Sheri Jackson, the Southeast Regional Manager of the National Park Service’s National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom Program. The Network to Freedom Program higlights stories of freedom seekers and their resistance to enslavement through escape and flight. The program has over 600 members, including sites, facilities, and programs. Ms. Jackson has been with this program for 16 years. Listen
The series is hosted by: Nina Bonnie, Frenchie Sweatt, Terri Miller, Bob Fortunato, Ann Cannon and Amy Mitchell. This podcast is produced and directed by Nancy Stearns Theiss. The podcasts will begin to air on September 1, 2020 with a new podcast each day through September, and then all the podcasts will be readily available. You can access the podcasts through Stitcher, iTunes, or Spotify, then go to Oldham Podcast Network, Thirty Days of Stories on the Underground Railroad in Kentucky.