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Black History Month Series: The Underground Railroad in DC and MD with Jenny Masur

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Starts:

Thursday February 06, 2025

    12:00 PM

Ends:

 

    2:00 PM

 

*For non-member event reservations: please email pfitzgerald@democraticwoman.org or telephone (202) 232-7363 Ext. 402 (voicemails will also be accepted).*

*Please note: Guests, with the exception of members’ spouses and domestic partners, may attend a maximum of three paid events from July 1 to June 30. After the third event, they must join the Club to continue attending events.*

We have all heard of Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman, but many unsung heroes of the Underground Railroad lived and worked in and around the District of Columbia. Cultural anthropologist and author Jenny Masur tells their life stories, reminding us of the agency they showed in their struggle for freedom.

Men and women, Black and White, operatives and freedom seekers all demonstrated initiative, courage, and resourcefulness. The resistance movement revolved around the enslaved African Americans who engineered escapes, whether individually or in groups, with or without the assistance of organized networks. Some ended up back with enslavers or sold South, but others achieved self-realization and freedom. The intimate, powerful stories of those who escaped or aided in their escape need to be honored as a significant part of our nation’s history.

EVENT DETAILS:

  • Remarks and Q&A, in-person and via Zoom (speaker via Zoom).
  • Noon bar opens, 12:15 p.m. lunch (optional), 1–2 p.m. program.
  • $10 lecture or Zoom only, $30 members and $35 guests for lunch (plus tax). Cash bar.

Jenny Masur is a native Washingtonian. She has a Ph.D. in Cultural Anthropology from the University of Chicago and an A.B. in Political Science from Mount Holyoke College. She worked for 25 years for the National Park Service during which she spent 17 years as a program manager for the National Capital Region for the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom. She is the author of three books, two published by History Press on the Underground Railroad, respectively, in 2019 (Heroes of the Underground Railroad Around Washington, D.C.) and 2023 (Maryland Freedom Seekers on the Underground Railroad).