Week 1 July 17-22, 2022
Sunday, July 17 – Registration and Welcome, Fairfield Inn New Bedford
5:00-6:00 PM Registration
6:00 – 9:30 Evening Welcome Reception and Participant Introductions. (Light refreshments & Ice Breaker) General orientation to Sailing to Freedom, UMass Dartmouth, Downtown New Bedford, and the South Coast region.
Drs. Timothy Walker & Anthony Arrigo, Project Director Lee Blake
Expectations for the week: curriculum module development
Film: Traces of the Trade, followed by discussion: Teaching the Underground Railroad, Issues and Curriculum Development
Monday, July 18 – New Bedford Whaling Museum (18 Johnny Cake Hill, New Bedford, MA)
9:00 – 9:45 Film and discussion: The City that Lit the World
10:00 – 11:00 Overview of the New Bedford Waterfront Trades, Timothy Walker; History Department, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth
11:00 – 11:15 Break
11:15 – 12:15 Guided Exhibition Walk-Through: “Sailing to Freedom: Maritime Dimensions of the Underground Railroad,” Co-Curators Walker & Dyer, New Bedford Whaling Museum
12:30 – 2:00 Lunch on your own
2:00 – 3:15 Overview of the Underground Railroad, Kate Clifford Larsen; Brandeis University
3:15 – 3:30 Break
3:30 – 5:00 Underground Railroad & Working Waterfront Walking Tours, New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park — NPS Rangers
6:00 – 8:00 Dinner with Summer Scholars & Directors/Administrators at The Black Whale Restaurant (New Bedford Waterfront)
Tuesday, July 19 – New Bedford Free Public Library
9:00 – 10:15 New Bedford’s African American Community Demographics and Employment Areas, Len Travers; Department of History University of Massachusetts Dartmouth
10:15 – 10:30 Break
10:30 – 12:15 Panel Discussion: Using Primary Sources of the Underground Railroad
- Kathryn Grover, Independent Historian, author of The Fugitive’s Gibraltar: Abolitionism and Escaping Slaves in New Bedford
- Lee Blake, President, New Bedford Historical Society
12:15 – 1:45 Lunch on your own
1:45 – 3:15 Whaling Museum Library/Polly Johnson House
Split into Two Groups:
- Group A: New Bedford Whaling Museum Library Collections Working and Teaching with Primary Sources and Artifacts Michael Dyer, Maritime Curator & Mark Procknic, Librarian
- Group B: Nathan & Polly Johnson House Museum Tour (21 Seventh Street, New Bedford, MA) First Home in Freedom for Frederick Douglass New Bedford Historical Society
3:30 – 5:00 Groups A & B switch places and rotate program activity
5:00 – 7:30 Dinner on your own
7:30 – 8:30 Concert – Music of the Underground Railroad, Folklorist and musician Reggie Harris at the Rotch-Jones-Duff House Museum
Wednesday, July 20 – Boston, Massachusetts (full day)
8:00 a.m. Meet in the Lobby of the Fairfield Inn, New Bedford. Board the bus for Boston.
Film on the bus: William Still and the Underground Railroad
Boston
- National Historical Park Boston African American National Historic Site Boston Black Heritage Trail Walking Tour
- Picnic Lunch at Charlestown Navy Yard (w/Program Directors)
- Charlestown Navy Yard & USS Constitution Tour (w/ Dr. Carl Herzog)
Trip back: Master teacher discussion of UGRR curriculum techniques Evening:
6:30 p.m. Arrive back in New Bedford.
Thursday, July 21 – New Bedford Whaling National Historic Park
9:00 – 10:30 Teaching the Underground Railroad: Primary Sources and Curriculum Development Guidelines for Classroom Projects, Master K-12 Teachers Jeffrey Peterson and Polly Zajac
- Split into groups by grade: Elementary, Middle, or High School
10:30-10:45 Break
10:45-12:15 New Bedford Walking Tour – US Park Service
12:15 -1:45 Lunch Social (sponsored at the New Bedford Friends Meeting House, 83 Spring St, New Bedford, MA)
2:00 – 5:00 Museum Visiting Time (unstructured; self-directed) New Bedford Whaling Museum and Rotch-Jones-Duff House Museum
5:00 – 7:00 Dinner on your own
7:00 – 9:00 New Bedford 50s Night
Friday, July 22 – New Bedford Free Public Library (613 Pleasant Street, New Bedford, MA)
9:00-10:30 The Coastal Trades and Underground Railroad Routes, David Cecelski, Independent Historian
10:30-10:45 Break
10:45-12:15 Virginia’s Waterways to Freedom: Escapes from ‘Worthless Sots’
and Other Tales, Cassandra Newby-Alexander, Norfolk State University, Virginia
12:15-12:45 Lunch on your own
12:45-1:30 Classroom Projects and Presentations by Participants
1:45-2:00 Wrap-up: Discussion and program evaluations
Sailing To Freedom 