Why the Underground Railroad Matters with steven nelson

In this Research and Academic Program lecture, Steven Nelson (emeritus, University of California, Los Angeles / Beinecke Fellow) discusses the importance of the Underground Railroad’s continuing roles in American life. Existing at the messy intersection of material culture, art, architecture, history, travel, heritage, and human experience, this story plays out at the complicated crossroads where fact and fiction meet. This discussion explores how people use the Underground Railroad’s visual, textual, and spatial evidence to produce their heritage and to promote a vision of history that underscores the centrality of their existence in the present day. The lecture is not a history of the Underground Railroad but rather an exegesis on how it works in the stories we tell about ourselves and others. In our current political environment, understanding how the Underground Railroad works helps us grapple with histories of enslavement and emancipation in the interest of creating a more just world.

Presented in person in the Clark auditorium. A 5 pm reception in the Manton Research Center reading room precedes the event.

Image: Cameron Armstrong, Underground Railroad Sculpture, 1977, wooden railroad tracks with iron ties. Oberlin College, Oberlin, OH. Photo: Steven Nelson, 2009.