Underground Railroad legislation could boost education, tourism opportunities, supporters say
They say creation of the Illinois Freedom Trails Commission could increase educational opportunities into an important segment of American history largely unknown to many people, and perhaps boost tourism centered on the journeys of 'freedom seekers' through Illinois.
For many slaves escaping from Southern states, the Chicago area was a stopover on the way to Detroit and eventually into Canada, local researchers said.
Legislation creating the commission recently passed through the state Senate and could be taken up soon by the House, according to state Rep. Debbie Meyers-Martin, D-Matteson, chief co-sponsor in the House.
She was co-chair of the state's Underground Railroad Task Force, which helped get the legislation introduced.
Meyers-Martin said there are enormous amounts of information done by researchers throughout the state who could pour that into a central database should the commission be established.
'We would have the opportunity to inform the public about how Illinois was participatory in the Underground Railroad,' she said Friday.
Meyers-Martin said she learned, through her work with the task force, that Sauk Trail, now a busy road in her district, had been part of the freedom seekers' network.
The commission would have a chair and 10 members appointed by the governor, with the commission's goals including furthering research into the trail taken by freedom seekers, establishing an online database and biographical information about key persons identified with the Underground Railroad, according to the legislation.
The commission would work with the Illinois State Board of Education to develop an educational program available to all public schools, develop standards and guidelines for historic markers and signage, and explore heritage tourism opportunties.
Larry McClellan, who has researched the Underground Railroad for many years and is president of the Midwest Underground Railroad Network, said work will start this fall on 'a very modest' statewide network devoted to the history of the Underground Railroad. That would get underway in anticipation of the statewide commission being created.
'We're glad for the progress but we know it will take time,' McClellan said.
He helped establish Governors State University in University Park, where he taught for 30 years and is emeritus professor of sociology and community studies.
In the mid-1970s, he was village president of University Park, then called Park Forest South, and has been on the boards of the Illinois State Historical Society and the Will County Historical Society.
McClellan said the general public is largely unaware of the Underground Railroad and said there is much misinformation out there.
'The thinking is the Underground Railroad was a system set up by almost all white abolitionists, and that is just not the reality,' he said. 'Men, women, Black families and white families have all kinds of experiences with freedom seekers.'
Tom Shepherd is secretary of the recently renamed Midwest Underground Railroad Network, previously the Little Calumet River Underground Railroad Project.
The group has new office space inside South Holland's First Reformed Church and has expanded its scope, Shepherd said.
He said the Underground Railroad and journeys of freedom seekers 'is a piece of history that largely gets ignored in this area' despite Chicago's South Side and south suburbs being identified as home to safe houses and waystations for freedom seekers.
'A lot of escaped slaves came through this area, and we want to bring that story to people,' Shepherd said.
For the past few years, his organization has worked with the Cook County Forest Preserve District to conduct Underground Railroad history tours in the region, and this year's first was scheduled to take place Saturday.
'We have identified a number of sites that were safe houses or stopovers,' on the trail, he said.
Shepherd said many participants say they had previously had little to no knowledge about the existence of the Underground Railroad. He said that, through the commission, there could be a way to increase tourism centered around the travels of freedom seekers and identified sites on Chicago's South Side and in the south suburbs.
'We have this story right here in our back yard,' Shepherd said. 'So many people are unaware of this history and unaware of this movement of people through our area.'
His organization will work this summer with interns from the University of Chicago and Purdue University to do more research on potential historical sites in Illinois and Indiana.
If approved by the General Assembly and signed into law, the state commission legislation would put the new commission under the purview of the state Department of Natural Resources.
Meyers-Martin said she is hopeful the DNR will include funding in its budget for the commission, but was unsure how much might be needed initially, as the commission gets established.
McClellan said that 'we don't need a lot of money, but we really need a central office to help nurture things along.'
mnolan@southtownstar.com
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
NBC News
15 minutes ago
- NBC News
South Korean and U.S. militaries begin annual summertime drills to cope with North Korean threats
SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea and the United States began their annual large-scale joint military exercise on Monday to better cope with threats by nuclear-armed North Korea, which has warned the drills would deepen regional tensions and vowed to respond to 'any provocation' against its territory. The 11-day Ulchi Freedom Shield, the second of two large-scale exercises held annually in South Korea, after another set in March, will involve 21,000 soldiers, including 18,000 South Koreans, in computer-simulated command post operations and field training. The drills, which the allies describe as defensive, could trigger a response from North Korea, which has long portrayed the allies' exercises as invasion rehearsals and has often used them as a pretext for military demonstrations and weapons tests aimed at advancing its nuclear program. In a statement last week, North Korean Defense Minister No Kwang Chol said the drills show the allies' stance of 'military confrontation' with the North and declared that its forces would be ready to counteract 'any provocation going beyond the boundary line.' Ulchi Freedom Shield comes at a pivotal moment for South Korea's new liberal President Lee Jae Myung, who is preparing for an Aug. 25 summit with President Donald Trump in Washington. Trump has raised concerns in Seoul that he may shake up the decades-old alliance by demanding higher payments for the American troop presence in South Korea and possibly reducing it as Washington shifts its focus more toward China. Tensions on the Korean Peninsula remain high as North Korea has brushed aside Lee's calls to resume diplomacy with its war-divided rival, with relations having soured in recent years as North Korean leader Kim Jong Un accelerated his weapons program and deepened alignment with Moscow following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. 'What's needed now is the courage to steadily take steps toward easing tensions, grounded in a firmly maintained state of ironclad security readiness,' Lee said during a Cabinet meeting on Monday. South Korea also on Monday began a four-day civil defense drill involving thousands of public workers, often scheduled alongside the allies' summertime military exercises. Seoul's previous conservative government responded to North Korean threats by expanding military exercises with the United States and seeking stronger U.S. assurances for nuclear deterrence, drawing an angry reaction from Kim, who last year renounced long-term reconciliation goals and rewrote the North's constitution to label the South a permanent enemy. In his latest message to Pyongyang on Friday, Lee, who took office in June, said he would seek to restore a 2018 inter-Korean military agreement designed to reduce border tensions and called for North Korea to respond to the South's efforts to rebuild trust and revive talks. The 2018 military agreement, reached during a brief period of diplomacy between the Koreas, created buffer zones on land and sea and no-fly zones above the border to prevent clashes. But South Korea suspended the deal in 2024, citing tensions over North Korea's launches of trash-laden balloons toward the South, and moved to resume frontline military activities and propaganda campaigns. The step came after North Korea had already declared it would no longer abide by the agreement. When asked whether the Lee government's steps to restore the agreement would affect the allies' drills, the South's Defense Ministry said Monday that there are no immediate plans to suspend live-fire training near the Koreas' disputed western maritime border. While the allies have postponed half of Ulchi Freedom Shield's originally planned 44 field training programs to September, U.S. military officials denied South Korean media speculation that the scaled-back drills were meant to make room for diplomacy with the North, citing heat concerns and flood damage to some training fields. Dating back to his first term, Trump has regularly called for South Korea to pay more for the 28,500 American troops stationed on its soil. Public comments by senior Trump administration officials have suggested a push to restructure the alliance, which some experts say could potentially affect the size and role of U.S. forces in South Korea. Under this approach, South Korea would take a greater role in countering North Korean threats while U.S. forces focus more on China, possibly leaving Seoul to face reduced benefits but increased costs and risks, experts say.
Politico
an hour ago
- Politico
The GOP shift on earmarks
IN TODAY'S EDITION:— GOP eyes earmarks in shutdown talks— Schumer: Dems all in on energy cost attacks— Emergency alerts in peril post-rescissions Vulnerable Republican incumbents and GOP fiscal hawks are teaming up over a historically contentious issue: earmarks. Our Meredith Lee Hill reports that Freedom Caucus Chair Andy Harris and his allies are supporting the inclusion of so-called community project funding in a continuing resolution — as long as that short-term, shutdown-averting bill keeps other spending 'at least flat.' Moreover, says Meredith, House GOP leaders are seriously considering this compromise as they stare down an end-of-September deadline to avoid a federal lapse in funding. It's a change of tune for many Republicans who have long shunned the practice of steering federal dollars to pet projects back home as wasteful. In March, leadership nixed billions in previously-approved community project funding in the seven-month stopgap bill to appease fiscal conservatives. But deficit hard-liners now want to avoid having to vote for a larger, full-year package at higher spending levels, and they think earmarks could be what convinces other House Republicans to let a scaled-back measure go through. 'Allowing earmarks on a CR is a hell of a lot cheaper than an omnibus,' said one Republican with direct knowledge of the ongoing conversations. Rep. Mike Flood, who chairs the Republican Main Street Caucus, said in a recent interview he's promoting earmarks as a way to boost GOP incumbents in tough races next fall. His 83-member coalition is stacked with business-friendly lawmakers and front-liners who could use an opportunity to brag about delivering money for key investments back home. Speaker Mike Johnson's team is listening, says Flood, as leadership looks to hold onto its fragile majority in 2026. But Harris, who is also a top appropriator, isn't stopping with his demand for a flat-funded-CR sweetened with earmarks: He's pushing for a guarantee that Congress will pass more rescissions packages to claw back funding lawmakers have already approved. In addition, Harris wants the White House to send over a pocket rescissions package between now and the end of the current fiscal year on Sept. 30, which would have the effect of revoking billions of dollars in appropriated money on Oct. 1 if Congress doesn't act on the request. That could run afoul with many congressional Republicans who worry about the administration's steady encroachment on their 'power of the purse,' and are still sore from the last grueling round of clawback negotiations. The legality of pocket rescissions also remains in question. GOOD MONDAY MORNING. Email us: cdumay@ and crazor@ THE LEADERSHIP SUITE Schumer's August marching orders Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer thinks Democrats are hitting their stride this August break on one of his top priorities: slamming Republicans on rising energy costs. 'We will make sure people know why the electric bills are going up,' Schumer told Cassandra in an exclusive interview of the messaging strategy he's reinforcing inside his caucus. 'We're on the same page.' During constituent events this month, congressional Democrats have been highlighting the cuts to clean energy incentives which Republicans baked into their massive, party-line tax and spending package. Those tax credits were established in the Democrats' 2022 climate law, which turned three years old over the weekend. The incentives led to major green investments in red states and districts, but they continue to be politically polarizing, and Republicans rolled back and weakened many of them as part of the newly enacted megabill. Schumer told Cassandra that Democrats are sounding the alarm that these actions will lead to job losses and more expensive utilities. He also pointed to the millions of dollars environmental groups have already spent on ads to bolster this message, which he predicts will be 'one of the [Republicans'] weakest' points ahead of the midterms. 'We are letting people know they're losing their jobs because Trump and Senate Republicans repealed the energy tax credits,' Schumer said. POLICY RUNDOWN RUSSIA SANCTIONS BLEAKER BY THE DAY — Democrats are increasingly doubtful they'll get to vote to put sanctions on Russia for its aggression against Ukraine when the Senate returns from recess next month. 'This next set of sanctions could be more impactful,' Sen. Chris Murphy told NBC's Meet the Press Sunday. 'The problem is, in the Senate, the Republican leader won't even bring up a vote, a debate on this bill because Donald Trump doesn't even want a discussion about these sanctions because he's so worried that it might upset his great friend Vladimir Putin.' Murphy's pessimism comes as Trump left his Alaska summit with Russian president Vladimir Putin this past Friday without securing a ceasefire agreement, his long-stated goal for the confab. Instead, Trump said he would pursue a broader peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine, around which there continues to be enormous skepticism about a successful outcome. Senate Majority Leader John Thune has so far been mum. However, Sen. Lindsey Graham — who has been leading the Russian sanctions effort on Capitol Hill but is also one of Trump's most loyal allies — said following the Alaska meeting he is now feeling hopeful and will defer to the president on next steps for a legislative response to force Putin's hand. Trump is scheduled to meet with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House this afternoon. LAWMAKERS TEE UP ACTION ON DC — Competing measures are in the works on Capitol Hill to either end or extend Trump's federal takeover of the District of Columbia's police force. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna introduced a resolution Friday that would grant Trump the authority to maintain federal control of the Metropolitan Police Department 'for as long as necessary to restore law and order' — a measure also backed by Rep. Andy Ogles, a member of the House Freedom Caucus. That same day, D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton rolled out a joint resolution with fellow Democratic Reps. Jamie Raskin and Robert Garcia that would terminate Trump's action, with Sen. Chris Van Hollen prepared to offer a companion resolution in his chamber. There's little chance Democrats make headway on their proposal, while Trump could put pressure on GOP leaders to take up the Luna measure — though it would likely have difficulty getting the votes to clear a necessary procedural hurdle in the Senate. FALLOUT FROM RESCISSIONS 1.0 — Public radio and TV stations are scrambling to keep disaster-warning systems alive following Congress' vote to nix $1.1 billion in funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Kylie Williams and Avril Silva report. The impact is widespread. Station managers in Alaska — where news stations serve rural communities and tribal villages — say funding has already dried up. PBS outlets in Northern California towns that send alerts during earthquakes are facing shutdowns. And stations in Oklahoma are unable to replace aging transmitters that provide warnings for emergencies. Craig Fugate, who led the Federal Emergency Management Agency during the Obama administration, said lawmakers may not realize how much certain communities rely on public broadcasting: 'It's important that a lot of senators and a lot of representatives start to hear from folks and start to realize the ramifications at the local level.' The CPB, which provided over 500 grants to more than 1,500 public radio and TV stations, is winding down operations with plans to fully shutter after January. Best of POLITICO Pro and E&E: THE BEST OF THE REST Midterm Fight Over Trump Bill, Tariffs Starts Early at Iowa Fair, from Erik Wasson at Bloomberg Georgia GOP fears bruising primary in race to unseat Ossoff, from Caroline Vakil, Al Weaver and Brett Samuels at The Hill The Democrats' biggest Senate recruits have one thing in common, from Russell Berman at The Atlantic CAMPAIGN STOP DEMS ADVANCE REDISTRICTING FIGHT IN CA — The Democrats who serve in the Texas legislature but left town to block the GOP majority's ability to approve new congressional maps are returning home to expected defeat — but their counterparts in the blue state of California are preparing to pick up the fight. California Democrats will circulate a long-awaited redistricting proposal among members of their own state legislature this week — and lawmakers are expected to approve the maps and related legislation by Thursday, Melanie Mason, Blake Jones and Dustin Gardiner report. Gov. Gavin Newsom announced a Nov. 4 special election for voters to green light the mid-decade redistricting effort. In the plan released Friday, Democrats have drawn themselves hefty advantages in districts currently held by GOP Reps. Doug LaMalfa, Kevin Kiley, David Valadao, Ken Calvert and Darrell Issa. At the same time, the new maps would provide some protection to other vulnerable Democrats, deepening the advantage for Reps. Adam Gray in the Central Valley, Derek Tran and Dave Min in Orange County and George Whitesides in Los Angeles County. HAPPY BIRTHDAY Rep. Jay Obernolte … former Reps. Toby Moffett and Louie Gohmert … Erik Wemple … WSJ's Sadie Gurman … Scott Haber-Katris … Megan Scully … H.R. Bert Peña … POLITICO's Lee Hudson … CNN's Simone Pathe … Bryan Greene of the National Association of Realtors … Roger Zakheim … Elizabeth Letter … Jordan Baugh … former Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner … Bob Woodruff … Jules Polonetsky (6-0) … Ben Wermund … Robert Lynch TRIVIA FRIDAY'S ANSWER: Nikki Bannister correctly answered that New Hampshire and Vermont are the two states where governors serve two-year terms. TODAY'S QUESTION, from Cassandra: Who was the first painter to depict an African American in a Capitol mural? The first person to correctly guess gets a mention in the next edition of Inside Congress. Send your answers to insidecongress@
USA Today
an hour ago
- USA Today
Liberals play partisan games with economic news
Will Democrats put politics aside and applaud as the American economy shows a strength and resilience that so many of them doubted? Probably not. Thanks to President Donald Trump's bold policies, it appears that the United States will avoid a recession this year − one that so many liberals were predicting only months ago. Will Democrats put politics aside and applaud as the American economy shows a strength and resilience that so many of them doubted? Probably not. The Bureau of Economic Analysis on July 30 released more good news about our nation's vibrant economy. Gross domestic product grew a healthy annual rate of 3% in the second quarter after recording a less than 1% decline in the first three months of this year. Fears of a recession should now dissipate like morning haze after the sunrise. Nearly all markers of a strong economy are in top form. Unemployment is low, hovering at 4.1%. The past three months have seen steady job growth. Average hourly earnings for U.S. workers grew 3.7% over the 12 months ending in June. Consumer spending is expected to rise, and there's been a modest uptick in consumer confidence. The Consumer Price Index, which measures inflation, increased 2.7% over the 12 months ending in June, far below the 40-year high recorded in President Joe Biden's term. Even the average price of eggs has dropped dramatically, to $3.31 per dozen, down from a spike to $8 in February and back to roughly the same price level as a year ago. Stock indexes continue to grow at a strong pace, recovering from the sell-off this spring driven by concerns over Trump's tariffs. The Nasdaq and S&P 500 have set multiple record highs in July, a boon to millions of Americans with retirement accounts and other investors. On the tariff front, Trump's new trade deal with the European Union should be a catalyst for further economic growth, particularly in the energy and construction sectors. If this is what a recession looks like, let's keep it coming. Critics said Trump was destroying the economy Despite such healthy economic markers, I doubt I'll see many kudos offered to the Trump administration for powering past a recession, which the left predicted in doomsday terms. Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman wrote in May that Trump and "MAGAnomics" were "destroying the economy and waging war on the middle class and the poor." The headline thundered that Trump was "making America backward again." Opinion: Trump's EU trade deal ushers in a golden age for blue-collar workers Interestingly, Krugman claimed that the U.S. economy was in good overall shape when Biden left office in January. He charged Trump with wrecking the economy in a mere three months. Now, that the data clearly shows otherwise, will Krugman admit his errors? I doubt it. Krugman, to be fair, wasn't the only so-called expert spouting off about our supposedly crumbling economy. CNN published an analysis in April with a headline that claimed "Trump took the US economy to the brink of a crisis in just 100 days." That same month, the Center for American Progress bemoaned that "President Donald Trump's decision to unilaterally launch a global trade war could be one of the worst economic statecraft blunders in American history." Opinion newsletter: Sign up for our newsletter on conservative values, family and religion from columnist Nicole Russell. Get it delivered to your inbox. I read these articles in the mainstream news media and wonder if we share the same universe. Do progressives not see the same healthy economic markers that millions of other Americans and I see? The answer, of course, is that they do see − but they are too blinded by partisanship to admit it. Good economic news should be nonpartisan I don't have a problem with liberals criticizing Trump. Sometimes he deserves it. But when it comes to obvious wins like a blossoming economy, the constant derision is tiresome and pedestrian. A robust economy under any president is good news for Americans, regardless of their party affiliation. Right? I didn't care for Biden's leftist policies. But I didn't cheer when the economy struggled. It was bad news not just for Biden but, far more important, also for our nation and its citizens. More than a year after Biden entered the White House, annual inflation spiked to 9% in June 2022, the highest rate in four decades. Americans were hit with sudden increases in food, housing and transportation costs. Opinion: Nvidia CEO says Trump gives America an advantage. Hear that, progressives? Compounding the pain, the Federal Reserve acted to cool inflation by raising interest rates, which pushed up consumers' payments for auto, housing and credit card loans. Democrats tried to blame decisions made in Trump's first term, including federal spending used to fight consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. But Biden spent more even as the pandemic began to wane. In 2024, more than half of American voters said the economy was the issue that mattered to them the most. It's why Trump won more than 77 million votes and returned to the White House. Now, he is delivering on his promises to rebuild our nation's economy. But not everyone is happy about it. It's too bad liberals can't separate economic success from Trump's party affiliation. I can't help but wonder if they wanted a recession so they could blame Trump even more. Nicole Russell is a columnist at USA TODAY and a mother of four who lives in Texas. Contact her at nrussell@ and follow her on X, formerly Twitter: @russell_nm. Sign up for her weekly newsletter, The Right Track, here. You can read diverse opinions from our USA TODAY columnists and other writers on the Opinion front page, on X, formerly Twitter, @usatodayopinion and in our Opinion newsletter.
