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INTRODUCTION
Many Roads to Freedom: Abolitionism and the Civil War in Rochester
is an online history tour covering people, events, places and writings in
the Rochester area relating to abolitionism, the Civil War, and its
aftermath. The tour consists of images and information on abolitionists,
the local Underground Railroad, slave narratives, anti-slavery speeches
and abolitionist newspapers, as well as Civil War era news on the war
effort and local military units. There are letters and war memorabilia
from the collection of Henry Achilles, a local Civil War soldier, as well
as regimental histories. Our collection of Currier & Ives political
cartoons from the era is also included. In addition, previously
unpublished and/or rare material on Rochester's Douglass Monument is
featured. Most items are from the collections of Rochester Public
Library's Local History Division.
All texts are presented as Adobe Acrobat PDFs, ready to be searched via
our optical character recognition software. All images are in jpeg format.
All images and texts may be saved or printed for personal or educational
use, and high resolution images can always be
ordered.
CREDITS
This project was made possible through the Lloyd E. Klos Historical
Fund, the Killian J. and Caroline F. Schmitt Foundation, and the Regional
Bibliographic Databases and Resources Sharing Program. On August 26, 2009,
it was officially recognized as part of the
National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom Program.
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"The Logo star is a
composite of both the emotional and physical aspects of the enslaved
African American who escaped via the Underground Railroad. The face is
symbolic of all freedom seekers who used the Underground Railroad to
flee the horrors of slavery. The star has dual symbolism: the hopes
and dreams of the escapee, and the North Star, which served as a major
navigational tool for nighttime movement when most travel along the
Underground Railroad routes took place, under the protective cloak of
darkness." |
Important note: The
historical documents presented here reflect the attitudes and perspectives
of earlier times and, therefore, may contain materials or references
offensive to some viewers. Rochester Public Library and its partner
institutions do not necessarily endorse the views expressed in the
collections. |
