Indiana Freedom Trails Inc.

10/03/2026

The Indiana African American Genealogy Group sponsored a tour to Historic Madison IN to commemorate International Underground Railroad Month. An informative walking tour of the Georgetown Community was led by Sue Livers and team.

10/03/2026

Thanks to everyone who attended and made possible IFT Underground Railroad Community Symposium held at the Eiteljorg Museum. Please share your photos from the event or others that took place during International Underground Railroad Month.

10/03/2026

10/01/2026

National Park Service Adds New Listings to the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom Program

09/29/2026

Today in Underground Railroad History…
On this day in 1827, Hiram Revels is born free in Fayetteville, North Carolina. Revels is ordained as an AME minister at the age of 18 and preaches in border-state churches known for their Underground Railroad activities. During the Civil War, he organizes two Black volunteer regiments and serves as an Army chaplain in Mississippi. In 1870, Revels will become the first African American to serve in the US Senate—filling the seat previously occupied by Jefferson Davis!

09/29/2026

Today in Underground Railroad History…
On this day in 1829, African American printer David Walker publishes an Appeal to the Coloured Citizens of the World in Boston. The widely distributed pamphlet uses the language of the Declaration of Independence in its condemnation of slavery and racism, and hints at racial violence. Walker, who passed away a year later, devoted his life to pushing abolitionists to be more aggressive. In some parts of the country, distribution of his work will be considered an act of sedition.

09/29/2026

Today in Underground Railroad History…
On this day in 1844, Lewis Hayden—once owned by former US Secretary of State Henry Clay—escapes Kentucky with his family. Hayden finds his way to Boston, where he becomes one of the nation’s most admired African American leaders. Frederick Douglass described him as the “Kentucky fugitive who has with him all that is noble and gallant of his native state, and has left behind him the last vestiges of slavery.”

09/27/2026

Today in Underground Railroad History…
On this day in 1857, a freedom seeker named Charles escapes from his Kentucky master, Henry Ditto. Indiana ferryman Charlie Bell and his son transport Charles across the Ohio River into Indiana, where free black Oswell Wright delivers him to Underground Railroad conductors. Ditto forms a posse and abducts the Bells and Wright and they are indicted in Kentucky. The Bells execute a successful jailbreak, but Wright goes to trial and is sentenced to five years in prison.