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Escaping to freedom on the B&O Railroad

The exhibition is located in the museum’s historic Mt. Clare Station – a National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom Site and the exact location through which eight Freedom Seekers, including Henry “Box” Brown and William and Ellen Craft, traveled. Photo credit: B&O Railroad Museum.
The exhibition is located in the museum’s historic Mt. Clare Station – a National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom Site and the exact location through which eight Freedom Seekers, including Henry “Box” Brown and William and Ellen Craft, traveled. Photo credit: B&O Railroad Museum.

The Baltimore & Ohio, a powerful commercial railroad, was also part of the underground railroad. A new permanent exhibit at the B&O Railroad Museum tells of two dozen freedom seekers who walked the rails, disguised themselves to be passengers, or packed themselves INTO BOXES to flee slavery.

We’ll hear the risks they took from the museum’s executive director Kris Hoellen and Chris Haley of the Legacy of Slavery project at the Maryland archives. Learn more about Mt. Clare Station.

Plus, Julia-Ellen Craft Davis, recounts her great-great grandparents' brave mission to escape slavery in Georgia, traveling by train in a daring disguise.

Maureen Harvie is Senior Supervising Producer for On the Record. She is a graduate of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and joined WYPR in 2014 as an intern for the newsroom. Whether coordinating live election night coverage, capturing the sounds of a roller derby scrimmage, interviewing veterans, or booking local authors, she is always on the lookout for the next story.
Sheilah Kast is the host of On The Record, Monday-Friday, 9:30-10:00 am.