Week 2 – July 24-29, 2022
Sunday, July 24 – 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 25 – New Bedford Whaling Museum (18 Johnny Cake Hill, New Bedford, MA)
9:00 – 9:45 Film and discussion: The City that Lit the World
9:45 – 10:00 Break
10:00 – 11:00 Overview of the New Bedford Waterfront Trades, Timothy Walker; University of Massachusetts Dartmouth History Department
11:00 – 11:15 Break
11:15 – 12:30 The Coastal Trades and Underground Railroad Routes, David Cecelski, Independent Historian
12:30 – 2:00 Lunch on your own
2:00 – 3:15 Virginia’s Waterways to Freedom: Escapes from ‘Worthless Sots’
and Other Tales, Cassandra Newby-Alexandra
3:15 – 3:30 Break
3:30 – 4:15 Guided Exhibition Walk-Through: “Sailing to Freedom: Maritime
Dimensions of the Underground Railroad,” Co-Curators Walker & Dyer, New Bedford Whaling Museum
4:15-5:00 Guided Walk-Through: New Bedford Port Society Seamens’ Bethel
6:00 – 8:00 Dinner with Summer Scholars & Directors/Administrators at Whaler’s Tavern
Tuesday, July 26 – New Bedford Free Public Library
9:00 – 10:15 Overview of the Underground Railroad, Kate Clifford Larson; Brandeis University
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
- No Trains, No Tunnels: New Bedford and the Underground Railroad, 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 Voices of Black Abolitionists: In Prose, Poetry and Song, Author and vocal performer Candida Rose at the Rotch-Jones Duff House (396 County Street)
Wednesday, July 27 – Boston, Massachusetts (full day)
7:30 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)
6:30 p.m. Arrive back in New Bedford. Free time to relax and explore New Bedford.
Thursday, July 28 – New Bedford Whaling National Historic Park
9:00 – 10:30 New Bedford’s African American Community Demographics and Employment Areas, Len Travers; UMass Dartmouth History Department
10:30 – 10:45 Break
10:45 – 12:15 The Power of Rhetoric: Understanding the Abolitionists through their
Writings and Speeches, Anthony Arrigo; English & Communication Department, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth
12:30 – 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
Friday, July 29 – New Bedford Whaling Historic Park
9:00 – 10:15 Underground Railroad & Working Waterfront Walking Tours, New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park — NPS Rangers
10:15 – 10:30 Break
10:30 – 12:15 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
12:15 – 12:45 Lunch on your own
12:45 – 1:30 Classroom Projects and Presentations by Participants
1:30 – 2:00 Wrap-up: Discussion and program evaluations
Week 2 Transportation/Accommodations Spreadsheet Link
Sailing To Freedom 