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.
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.
The family that helped Barry in Ashton, IL.
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
One comment on “Episode 19: Freedom”