Topics

1

Underground Railroad / PERSONAL STORIES FOR UGRR FREEDOM RIDE

« on: January 16, 2007, 08:03:58 am »

Stephen,

My wife Linda and I have been cyclists for about 25 years. As a freshman in college in 1970, I flunked physical education because I couldn't run 600 yards or do one pushup. Trying to get in shape by jogging just wasn't fun, and I didn't persist.

In 1982, we heard our pastor and another friend talking about the bike ride they'd done the previous day, 50 miles in the Applachians where we then lived. ("You did what?!")  I borrowed a bike, rode 2 miles, was exhausted -- and hooked.

In 2002, Linda and I rode Adventure Cycling's TransAmerica route from Yorktown, VA, to Missoula, then north to connect with their Northern Tier route, and ended at Bay View, WA, just across Padilla Bay from Anacortes. 4269.4 miles. Although we don't plan another ride that long until I retire, we are
planning to ride part of the Underground Railroad route this summer.

Linda's involved with The Intersection, a local community development effort, and we've decided to use this summer's ride to raise money for and awareness of the Intersection. We appreciate the Center's role in helping Adventure Cycling map the route. Having read Bordewich's book, I now understand a bit more about what trying to escape slavery was really like. It is history worth telling.

Thanks,
Dan
VinsonD@health.missouri.edu

"Be the change you seek in the world", Stephen

2

Underground Railroad / LEST WE FORGET: THE TRIUMPH OVER SLAVERY..."

« on: July 14, 2004, 07:45:09 am »

Greetings,

As we embark on creating the Underground Railroad Bicycle Route we can expect to be changed by the experience.  We must all be aware, at all times, of how the history of slavery and the struggle to freedom is one of the defining moments in the history of human civilization.  Thus, it is important that we document the impact of this experience on our own personal, professional and organizational lives.  Some of what we learn will be painful and shameful... as well as hopeful and a source of strength.  The most important thing is that we fully engage in the process of learning.

So, I am very pleased to introduce you to a very special website created by the Schomberg Center for Research in Black Culture, The New York Public Library working in partnership with the UNESCO Slave Route Project to mark the United Nations General Assembly's resolution proclaiming 2004 as the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle against Slavery and its Abolition.  

FOLLOW THE LINKS BELOW TO ACCESS "LEST WE FORGET: THE TRIUMPH OVER SLAVERY..."
http://digital.nypl.org/lwf/english/site/flash.html

Here are hints for reviewing:
 
1.  The pictures below lead to the text.
2.  Press the down arrow for more text.
3.  Press "more" for additional text for that picture.
4.  Go to the next picture.
 
Please SPREAD THE WORD
 
Stephen

Please follow the links below and share your thoughts on the Underground Railroad Discussion Forum on the Adventure Cycling website:
http://www.adventurecycling.org/forums/viewtopics.cfm?Forum=19

This message was edited by sbthomas on 7-14-04 @ 6:46 AM

3

Underground Railroad / Mapping the Undergound Railroad Route

« on: July 12, 2004, 07:20:00 pm »

Please post ideas and feedback on our methods and procedures to map the route

4

Underground Railroad / Pittsburgh Major Taylor Cycling Club

« on: July 11, 2004, 01:05:36 pm »

Greetings,

I am please to report that we have launched the Pittsburgh Major Taylor Cycling Club.    We created the club  as a way to organize ourselves and create a social support network.  Most of us have never been on a "tour" and some of us do not have bicycles.  But we make up for it all with heart and soul. Please reply to this message with tips on how to get started.  Thanks in advance...

Stephen
www.cmh.pitt.edu

5

Underground Railroad / In the News

« on: July 11, 2004, 11:44:21 am »

Greetings,

Please reply with links to news stories about this project and related events.  I have now been interviewed by our local Pittsburgh Post Gazette and a bicycle trade magazine.  Additionally, it was reported that Oprah Winfrey donated One Million dollars to the Underground Railroad museum in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Stephen
www.cmh.pitt.edu

6

Underground Railroad / Burdens of Race and History

« on: July 05, 2004, 05:36:58 pm »

The "burdens of race and history"... see below:

Bicyclists in Louisville, Ky., are about to right a wrong committed there 105 years ago.
It was in Louisville in 1894 that the League of American Wheelmen, then the governing body of bicycle racing, voted to ban blacks.

http://www.majortaylorassociation.org/LAW.htm

Stephen

7

Underground Railroad / Web Link to Underground Railroad

« on: July 05, 2004, 04:23:47 pm »

In developing the underground railroad route we want to identify and rate weblinks.  Below is the link to a National Geographic presentation.  Let me know what you think:

"You are a slave.
Your body, your time, your very breath belong to a farmer in 1850s Maryland. Six long days a week you tend his fields and make him rich. You have never tasted freedom. You never expect to."
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/railroad/j1.html

Stephen B. Thomas
www.cmh.pitt.edu