The Underground Railroad was a network of people, places and secret routes that helped enslaved people escape to freedom. Although stories about the Railroad often focus on former slave states, the network stretched throughout Canada, the U.S. and even here in Wisconsin.
A new documentary from Milwaukee PBS explores this little known history, along with some of the local spaces that shed light on how the Underground Railroad operated here. "Wisconsin's Underground Railroad" premieres Monday at 9 p.m. on Milwaukee PBS, but it's also available on YouTube and their website.
Producer Brian Ewig joins Lake Effect's Joy Powers in-studio — along with one of the experts featured in the film, Dr. Robert “Biko” Baker, director of undergraduate studies in the department of African & African Diaspora Studies at UW-Milwaukee. For Baker, this story has particular resonance amid the ongoing immigration crackdown in Minneapolis and across the U.S.
"The secrecy is something that I think Wisconsinites need to be really proud of," Baker says. "It highlights the ability to resist federal agents who are coming into their cities and snatching people up, and it’s a tradition that still exists here in Wisconsin."
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