150 years ago, two girls crossed the Missouri River trying to escape a life of slavery. In the summer of 2016, Barry Jurgensen set out on a 500-mile journey to follow in their footsteps.
Listener advisory: Just a note that this episode deals with themes of slavery and has brief, non-graphic references to rape.
The Liberator describing the escape of Eliza and Celia in 1858.
Chicago Tribune article on Eliza’s second escape in 1860.
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- Gay, the woman in this photo, invited the group to her house for breakfast the morning they packed up their tents in Hastings, Iowa. (L-R) Tamisha, Barry, Gay, Austin, and Tierra.
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- The family that helped Barry in Ashton, IL.
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- The day Barry arrived in Chicago with members of the Frederick Douglass Initiatives. (L-R) Barry, Robert Benz, and Kenneth Morris Jr.
Special thanks to Cletus Baker at Studio B in Omaha.
Music Credits
Valerie June—Workin’ Woman Blues (courtesy of Capitol Music Group and BMG)
Roger Howell & Doug Phillips—Sourwood Mountain
Patrick Bonner—Black Tar on a Stick, Up and Down the Broom
Roger Howell & Doug Phillips—Cluck Old Hen
Black Twig Pickers—Lonesome Valley
Led Belly & Woody Guthrie—We Shall Be Free