South-Central Pennsylvania is known for the Battle of Gettysburg, the largest military clash in the western hemisphere. Over the course of twenty-five years, however, this area was a battleground of a different kind as the hills and valleys of this region represented both freedom and danger for free and self-emancipating African-Americans. As a network of free African-Americans and whites emerged to protect escaping enslaved and free citizens, slave catchers frequently prowled the area, looking to kidnap these freedom seekers and sell them south into bondage. During the Civil War, African-Americans from the small towns and cities of South-Central Pennsylvania flocked to the United States Army to strike back at the institution of slavery. These stories shed new light on what was at stake during the four years of fighting. Topics covered in this presentation include the kidnapping of Kitty Paine (1845); Daniel Kaufmann and the Underground Railroad (1847); Frederick Douglass and John Brown in Chambersburg (1859); and the 54th Massachusetts in Franklin County (1863).

On February 17, 2021, Peter C. Miele, Executive Director, Seminary Ridge Museum and Education Center will present “The Work For Freedom: Life in the Pennsylvania Borderlands, 1840-1865”