Peerless Presents Stories of Slavery and Flights to Freedom

Peerless Rockville hosts two presentations in the coming weeks examining slavery and the fight for freedom.

Author Jenny Masur presents stories from her new book of unsung heroes of the Underground Railroad who lived and worked around Washington, D.C., at 1 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 23 at the historic Red Brick Courthouse, 29 Courthouse Square, in Rockville Town Center.

Masur, formerly the National Capitol Region Manager for the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom, will present stories of the men and women, black and white, operatives and freedom seekers, who each demonstrated courage, resourcefulness and initiative on their flights to freedom on the Underground Railroad in Rockville and Montgomery County.

Admission is free. For tickets and more information, visit Peerless Rockville Historic Preservation, Ltd. on Facebook or bit.ly/PeerlessUGRRHeroes.

Richard Bell, an associate professor of history at the University of Maryland, College Park, will present the story from his book “Stolen: Five Free Boys Kidnapped Into Slavery and Their Astonishing Odyssey Home,” from 2-3:30 p.m. Saturday, March 29 at Rockville Memorial Library, 21 Maryland Ave. in Rockville Town Square. Bell will discuss how the outlawing of the transatlantic slave trade in the early 1800s created a criminal network of human traffickers and slave traders who abducted thousands of free African-Americans living in northern states and sold them into slavery. He will describe the true story of five young, free black boys who – lured onto a ship with the promise of food and pay, then smuggled from Philadelphia to the deep South – courageously resisted and were able to escape, eventually initiating a manhunt to bring their captors to justice.

Cosponsored by Friends of the Library, Rockville Memorial Chapter. Admission is free. For tickets and more information, visit Peerless Rockville Historic Preservation, Ltd. on Facebook or bit.ly/PeerlessStolen.

“Heroes of the Underground Railroad Around Washington, D.C.” and “Stolen: The Story of Free African Americans Kidnapped Into Slavery” are presented in association with Peerless Rockville’s new exhibit, “Forging Freedom: Endurance, Escape, and Rockville’s Underground Railroad,” which features the brave fugitives who fled slavery in Rockville, the abolitionist network that helped and the endurance of the enslaved community. The exhibit is open 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Monday through Friday, in the historic courthouse.