Memory Institutions: The Museums of the Freedom Corridor

NATIONAL PARKS, MUSEUMS, LIBRARIES, archives, and county courthouses are the primary institutions that hold and share the artifacts and representations of our history. The Freedom Corridor starts from the freedom narratives of six cities plus New Philadelphia: Springfield, Jacksonville, Pittsfield, Barry, Quincy, and Hannibal. Each of these has been a site of freedom activity, stories we know and more we have yet to discover. This panel introduces more details of how the Freedom Corridor has been manifest in each town's experience. Key people and families need to be widely known. Each institution is important, but we are better together. Combining our efforts boosts the freedom narrative and helps us rethink the history of this country.The mission of the Springfield and Central Illinois African American History Museum (AAHM) is to tell authentic stories about African American life in Springfield and central Illinois through exhibitions, education, collections, and programs to preserve, interpret, and celebrate African American history and culture. I believe that our assignment and duty is to be a beacon of light in our community. At AAHM, we're dedicated to providing an exceptional learning experience for everyone who walks through the doors. I believe that education, history, diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility matter. And I am committed to promoting African American history as American history, not separate, but the same.In preparing for today, it was profound to learn about Frank McWorter's incredible journey. He purchased sixteen of his family members out of slavery, beginning with his pregnant wife, Lucy McWorter.Dr. Brian Mitchell, director of research at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, beautifully illustrated why McWorter prioritized purchasing his wife first. This was an enlightening moment for me in understanding my ancestors’ tragedies, experiences, and triumphs. By first ensuring his wife's freedom, Frank McWorter would, according to the law, guarantee the freedom for all of his children born thereafter.The distinguished Frank McWorter established the village of New Philadelphia in 1836. And here we sit today, at the Freedom Corridor conference, we're honored to have his great-great-grandson, Dr. Abdul/Gerald McWorter, among us, professor emeritus at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign; his wife, Professor Kate Williams-McWorter; along with his daughter, Mei-Ling McWorter Leonard (whom I've known since we were two years of age); her son, Solomon Leonard; and Dr. Gerald McWorter's sister, Sandra McWorter-Marsh, who is the great-great-granddaughter of Frank McWorter. This is a historic moment that we should all cherish!Springfield, Illinois, holds deep roots for my family, as my family roots are documented back to the mid- to late 1800s.The city of Springfield has a rich connection to the Underground Railroad, with both Black and white abolitionists risking their lives to help individuals escape enslavement and secure their freedom. How many of you understand that freedom isn't free?Reflecting on my upbringing in Chicago, Illinois, I attended both Catholic and public elementary schools and graduated from Whitney Young Magnet High School of Chicago Public Schools. My mother is a successful retired teacher with over thirty years dedicated to educating young people across the city, many of whom have gone on to do great things in life. My father was an entrepreneur who owned a successful pedal boat business in Lincoln Park Zoo, and he is retired as well. His business was featured in several movies in the 1980s.When I grew up, educators seldom mentioned how ordinary Black folks were abolitionists and how my ancestors played a crucial role in liberating enslaved people. Black people seeking their freedom often had to hide for weeks to secure their liberty. Some even disguised themselves to avoid being identified as Black.Freedom to live and breathe, to see another day, should be a fundamental right. Yet, as the saying goes, “Freedom ain't Free.” The Underground Railroad in Springfield was closely connected to Farmingdale; both were areas dedicated to abolitionists. This historic network was crucial for individuals seeking freedom from enslavement, providing refuge and assistance to those in need. Westminster Presbyterian Church stood prominently among these abolitionist communities, actively supporting efforts to liberate enslaved individuals and aid in securing their freedom.Abolitionists were present in Hannibal, Missouri; Springfield, Illinois; and notably Chatham, Illinois, which resonated with me during my research. They were also active in New Philadelphia, Jacksonville and Quincy, Illinois, in addition to other places. How many understand today that freedom isn't free?I want to clarify that while I am not a historian, I am a communicator and a community relations professional, embracing who the Lord has made me to be. I'm thrilled to be here among many historians, eager to learn and glean from their insights today.The fight for freedom is a crucial point that seems to get lost on many individuals in today's society. Some in this room recognize that freedom comes at a great cost, as many sacrificed their lives and livelihoods in the pursuit of liberty. As we move forward, let's continue to support each other across all nationalities, backgrounds, and socioeconomic status, while bridging the divides to lend a helping hand to one another.The site where the Illinois State Museum now stands is where William K. Donnegan was reported to have been lynched according to newspaper articles in 1908. My research into the 1908 Springfield Race Riot revealed that he survived an attempted lynching because of his tall stature. He was later found by military personnel and taken to the police station, where he received medical attention, but tragically died at St. John's Hospital.Donnegan's murder was preventable, but the lack of urgency from the local militia and the police's failure to respond to the large angry white mob is what led to his death. Furthermore, a false accusation of rape by a white woman by the name of Mabel Hallam against a Black construction laborer (George Richardson) caused the violence on August 14, 1908, that resulted in the 1908 Springfield Race Riot. This tragic event in American History was pivotal in the formation of the NAACP in 1909 in Springfield, Illinois.From the arrival of enslaved persons in 1619 on the White Lion to significant milestones such as Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation and the Civil Rights Movement, people have sought freedom for Black people in the US; let's continue to fight the good fight of faith and get into good trouble, because freedom ain't free. And let's remember that we are as free as our mindsets allow us to be. Let your mind be free. Let's walk in the liberty that was set forth by our ancestors: Malcolm X, Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., by the late Jim Lewis and the late Muhammad Ali, to present-day Vice President Kamala Harris and to US Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson and Reverend Jesse Jackson and others, ’cause freedom ain't free. I need the audience to say, “Freedom ain't Free.”“Freedom ain't free! But, We are stronger together!”The Freedom Corridor to me is very important, for the simple fact that it connects a history that continues on down that path and then basically it has to do with the Underground Railroad into freedom, into Canada and places like that. But more than just a connection to the history, it connects to people. Because there are people from New Philadelphia that moved to Jacksonville and lived in Jacksonville, there are people in Jacksonville that moved to Springfield, back and forth, there's total connection. So, all these places that are on the Corridor, all these towns where the museums are, they're all connected long before we even begin to link up here. So, the history is out there, the people are out there, the descendants are out there, and hopefully through this we'll find everybody and find a place for ourselves.What I'm going to try to talk about real quick here is our museum, but I'm also going to put it in light of how things happen in Jacksonville. Everything I mention here is in our museum also.All right, take Jacksonville: founded in 1825, surveyed in 1824. The first Black person, by the name of Andrew Jackson, was here in 1824. He came across the surveyors at the time, and he had gotten lost trying to get some seed corn for a gentleman that owned him and his mom—no slavery in Illinois, though, right? So anyway, he gets lost, he finds these people, they were out surveying the place. They ask him what he was doing here, first Black boy they'd ever seen in Morgan County. So, what ends up happening, he tells them, talks to them about it. They ask him what his name is. He says, “Andrew Jackson.” They tell him how to get back on his route. They say, “Oh, we're going to name the town after you.” Okay, so jokingly it's after that. Later on in history, of course, everybody knows it was named after Andrew Jackson, the war hero at the time—supposedly.So when I wrote for the newspaper, I was working in the prison system, I went and did some research. I went over to the old Lincoln Library that was in the old Capitol Building at the time, got with Kathryn Harris, asked her for certain information. I said, “Where can I find books about names of cities and towns in Illinois?” She handed me a book. I looked it up. It said, “Jacksonville, named for a prominent colored preacher.” Now, this naming done at a time when he was alive, when the people were here at that time, and it was done by the state. So, of course, in my article for the newspaper, I wrote, “Jacksonville had a two-sided coin. Was the town named for the slave owner, general, and presidential candidate at the time, Andrew Jackson, or for our local Andrew Jackson?” My article didn't fare too well with a lot of people because nobody wanted to change it. So, I'm not saying that either one of them is the exact person the city was named for. I'm just trying to identify both of them.Andrew Jackson went on to become an alderman in the 1870s in Jacksonville. He was a minister of the second Black Baptist church in the state of Illinois, and he was also a member of the Wood River Baptist Association, who met at one time in Alton because their fear was once the Civil War ended, Black people would be in worse shape after slavery than during slavery, because they wouldn't have any rights or freedom, and so they wanted to vote. All these ministers got together and they wrote about their about this and they it to a New newspaper to be they want to This is just through a place like doing things that and help the community of Black people the at that Andrew Jackson moved into Jacksonville, there were Black people here. lot of the history books talk about the first here, the and like but they out the Black people. as I you about Andrew Jackson, he the Black person here. They were out there on the They a lot of these a lot of these like that. in Jacksonville, an It was of town because it was all enslaved people that had lived in this there, it was they it a and it was of Jacksonville, but today, it's about a walk from the how it is and like this place more Black people in here, as freedom, as the Underground Railroad to people from St. places. They would be led here to Jacksonville, to the of they'd on their But they them when the role of Illinois and people, came into because those Black people in the of the freedom there very long because the slave would be there after They would move them up to these up here, like the which is also now our It was in was one of the members of the which was an abolitionist church here in Jacksonville, where you had to be an abolitionist and be against slavery to even be a Underground Railroad we have like of them are here. was more than that in the but a lot have been down and I've names of abolitionists that I even been to through all of them because once this it and about the Underground Railroad here in Jacksonville is that of the are that from each in about an you it to place in Jacksonville. you walk from one to the you it to everyone had to do with the Underground had the family here that two but they them as They just didn't up and the and at the that you had to do and a and have those children be the children found out later that they were going to be back down to the and be and so they out in Jacksonville, in certain areas they were The boy got he got taken to and he got down through The was Jacksonville after a got her freedom and a member of that church in Jacksonville and these are all things that are together. you up into As you can what I'm saying is there was a all the through We get into as as Jacksonville and as as it's in the where we are, you wouldn't have to through the things that people were doing in and as as trying to get their my was the at the NAACP when they Jacksonville. I the gentleman was about about her and about other Black people, all the up to years about the history and like that. I found out as my said, places like the Illinois which is here, Black people had to sit in the They sit in the white who was the NAACP he went and had his wife sit in that the white They to her She wouldn't The came up, said, going to the She said, our why do you made him So, they the but they had an and they got her They up going to the had her in the Civil Rights it was over that places up one more I want to talk My and my one for up the museum, we want to see the history get lost, we want to see the history get I've found out all this time, up, I've been learning what wanted me to know and not what I to I even identify with my descendants in and me from out my history here. So, I'm being down on like that when it comes to those of I found out about the Springfield Race Riot when I was years after I got out of the And when I found out about I went and asked my She was born in but I about the So, I said, you know about the Springfield Race And goes, I about I said, how you us about She goes, would I tell you about that was just a of my And I as it of me it me because I was how like that can be a of through this museum and the history that we there, we're trying to that these things be a of our life. And when people ask do you by Black I that white lives lives or like that. we're trying to is that you at our history, you take the time to at our history, we're in that history where you see that we We what our what this Corridor is trying to be And like I said, it's not just that. our had to take it down because I want to it a we're going to have the the and the in our museum because they were all of here. They all lived here. had had an the which was over by the The lived on the a of and they were the in the They even up their schools and They doing for a while here at my to tell me that. I said, Jacksonville like the of New And had seen the and said, it was a like because when the came in to get to in the and out in the they more people. So, when they came up, have the the the and the all to see they would get the when certain didn't get the then there were They went after each the would over to the of town and a fight over The police which very would down and try to it up, which they So, they'd just them fight it And then they would get the of the because in these they all had like their or So they'd get them to up to the police have a and talk it She said, how they is our museum the School It was in in museum here in And it's you say, a lot of to do in such a have this on the New Philadelphia on the history of the McWorter family, and all also going to the New Philadelphia in that. So, what we'll be to tell is hopefully the up to the present the we have We have We to continue doing the public into the as we in this one newspaper there's a colored gentleman to the We need to out who these people were and what they not been about in there's a lot of to do there, a lot of research. with the in this it's But he came over as a slave with the family, with the family, and they put up a for him when he are some names of and we have to learn about William Abraham going to these from some of our and people. did the research on the McWorter She went to McWorter and to with And when McWorter got to her went back to research. research was very on the at the at the in in her said, have all the and I have and in this So, I the with this is of you know from the New Philadelphia is also an and of history. This is from history is the of American history. is a who a of and in the experience of County. She her stories like a of a family She our stories tall in the I'm a on this but is our of the And was a New Philadelphia And as Dr. New Philadelphia to Illinois with two one in and one in from the of her says, is not a of says, is as history is of and I to into this research and New Philadelphia back to in our at the to aid in any we can with any we can to the back to life. And the names I I take the time now to over them but the young in the is She graduated from High School in 1908 and a my and I'm the of The Freedom here in Hannibal. I am going to have an to tell you about the history of enslaved African freedom here in Hannibal. This is my doing I am the African American history museum in and I am the African American history museum that a named are just a you want my more my are all with who The of He into one of the towns in But what the here to do was to the African American that but the community did up here, there was one to African and it was on the It was a and it basically said, is where with And that was at our from about to The has since but I have a an of the or people it didn't at So I'm very to have is on and our mission is to the community and about the African American community. I do I do Dr. we have to them, and by the Black History on the ordinary people that did And I believe some of the talk about and and we do that at the museum, we also talk about our and our And we of that I am very to have a lot of and a lot of primary that support and us to tell the the museum, we do We talk about the We on the of The did a lot to support and to the African American community. in about Jim in he was the first white to an enslaved person, this a to that white He him a he him a family, he him a that from of that he was a very and on with his But anyway, during his he did things of my stories is about a Black named was a who graduated from in and to at a out on the At any that was a very and he said, working all these to try to get through and can you help me we found a of our a a woman named Dr. found a that was to the by and it said, want to help has been put by the white I to that as his support of At any he room and for the of the and was to at the of his law, and a to So in a I also at the museum that had a hand in the of I talk about the I talk about enslaved people in Hannibal. I do that has I've been to find through research several names of enslaved people that in with the that we with being the of also talk about the descendants of those enslaved people and then this is what gets a lot of a named I talk about was one of the for Jim in a lot I from which he to be a years after his death. He died in a years later his was And he about being a for So, I talk about and I talk about some of his of his a of a woman named Kate has a connection to Springfield in that as was one of those people lynched in the Springfield Riot. So that connection we do have with other than a lot of for the and New Philadelphia and the being done there, I that connection to New But we like we do the African who made a to the to as a and so I do are whom I to as ordinary people who did and we did that. By just a or so from slavery, we had we we we had a of and that and what we to as community you were going to have any at then you to your you were going to have any at you were going to have to your We our we our we did all of that to and to a community these are some of the things I talk about at the life of African American going to this out by everybody to to Hannibal, us We get of a and I of the people to to learn about and so to learn about and to learn about and to learn about Jim is a real for people. I have a you can us out and learn more about our history and about why and how I this