Dark figures dart across an open field under the brightly lit night sky. The melody of “cricket, cricket,” combined with the croaking of bullfrogs sets the pace for these runaway slaves. Tonight they run to the next safe house - a white farmers family housing any and all slaves that are glory bound.
A cloud of young voices suddenly rushes into your ears and brings you back to reality- it’s the 22nd of February in the year 2011, at the University of Georgia, in Athens, Ga. and you’re in the Reed Hall. You aren’t in the bayou of Louisiana watching runaway slaves head towards “safety.” You are participating in a Desegregation event on UGA’s campus that aims to educate students about the difficulties and achievements of minorities in the past, especially linked with the Underground Railroad.
The vivid imagery you just experienced was a re-creation of the Underground Railroad made possible by the UGA Reed Community and Reed Community Council. They welcomed students into Reed Hall, and led them on a journey through rooms, each encompassing a certain aspect of the Underground Railroad.
The first stop, a dark and dreary study room, served as the basement of a farmer’s safe house. The runaway slaves (Glory Bound participants) where given a bag of food by the farmer and his wife, expected to last for days. The bag consisted of one roll, a handful of trail mix and a piece of beef jerky.
Just as participants were getting into the notion of sneaking around for their livelihood, they were led through the halls into another multi-purpose room - this time a story and quilt reading session to point slaves toward the drinking gourd. The gourd (a constallation in the sky) meant glory and freedom, so the older women taught the participants how to follow its signs. Slaves use to create quilts with certain patterns, encoded with directions to safe houses, and ultimately to freedom.
Participants continued their journey onward to the next safe house, but had to walk outside to do so. They were startled and then chased by two frustrated farmers. Luckily, everyone was able to get away and arrived at the next stop, where participants where encouraged by Harriet Tubman’s remarkable speech.
Next they moved to the final stop where they were sung to as congratulations for making it to freedom. The entire time, students where exposed to thoughts and experiences similar to what run-away slaves might have experienced.
Glory Bound was created as a way for students to interact with the history of the Underground Railroad. The journey through Reed Hall was a small way to create an environment in which students could really sense what it was like to be a part of the Underground Railroad.
Reed Community Residence Assistant and Glory Bound actor Nathan Nerswick said, “It helped me realize the tremendous achievement people overcame to be free.” Nerswick believes Glory Bound is an innovative and interactive way to help educate individuals about why the Underground Railroad and its participants were important.
The University of Georgia is celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Desegregation in many ways. Glory Bound certainly contributed to the celebration of freedom and change in numerous ways.
Holly,
ReplyDeleteOverall this was a good story it just needs some fine-tuning. You also need to learn the difference between "where" and "were." Just minor grammatical errors and a few sentence structure things that we talked about are all that I would change. Well done.