Kansas State University - Royal Purple Yearbook (Manhattan, KS)

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Toward the end of the Underground Rarlroad tour, near the grave site of Captain William Mitchell. Richard Pitts. author and Manhattan resident, talks about the flight of escaped slaves through Wabaunsee and Riley counties. Slaves ran away to anywhere they could go. Pitts said. They ran north. They ran to the Native Americans - they never stopped running. ' -Joilyn Brown — L ' ndersroiind Railroad 15)

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H Bus tour mirrors original underground railroad journey through Manhattan a LightingthewaY One ot Manhattan ' s best-kept historical secrets may have been a branch of the Underground Railroad that helped escaped slaves find their way to freedom. One such branch, often called a spur, was located 13 miles south of Manhattan in Wabaunsee, Kan. I had no idea this was out here, said Lacey Carlson, participant in the guided tour and senior in family studies. I thought it would be interesting. Richard Pitts, author of A Self-Guided Tour of the Underground Railroad in Kansas, and Manhattan resident, led tours of the Wabaunsee spur for 10 years. On Sept. 16, a school bus acted as a time machine, taking passengers hack to 1858, the height of the Underground Railroad and abolitionist movement in Kansas. Pitts began the tour at the Beecher Bible and Relief Colony monument alongside Kansas Highway 18. There, Pitts told the 90 tour-takers about the beginning t)f slavery in the United States. (Continued on page 16 — While on the Underground Railroad tour, Manhattan residents Fadiya Perry and Trevor Hudgins lift a replica of a ball and chain that would have been placed on the ankles of escaped slaves who were caught and returned to their slave-owners. I really enjoyed the tour, Thomas Boltzer, senior in history, said. I would definitely encourage others to take the tour. — JosJyn Brown — 14 Student Lite

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, ' .Mitiniicd from page 14 ) They were kidnapped from ch-ilizations in Ahrid, said Pitts. Tliey weren ' t nnci -ili:ed; they weren ' t sa -ages wlien they ,i;ot here. Before movi ng to the next stop, Pitts addressed the issue of race. Race is contemporary, he said. Racism is relatively young. Before racism, it was about nationalism. X liat you were v ' as v ' here you came from, not the color of your skin. Pitts said his goals for the tour were to create cultural confidence and a complete memory of history. We have to create a consciousness in our people, he said. We have to remember the good things and the not-so-good things. We have to remember whose shoulders we are standing on to appreciate the opporttinities we have. Those shoulders, Pitts said, in part belonged to the members of the Beecher Bible and Rifle Colony that settled in Wabaunsee in 1856. Members of the colony came west in response to Henry Ward Beecher ' s call to arms against a pro-slavery vote during the popular sovereignty era in Kansas. This was an era which history has deemed the Bleeding Kansas period. Tlie Beecher Bible and Ritle Church serwd as a meeting place for abolitionists to discuss their work with the Undergrotmd Railroad. Because it was a secret society, Pitts said it was difficult to find information on this secret line to freedom. After die Civil War, people wanted to get on with being Americans, Pitts said. They weren ' t concerned with writing down information about tlie L ' nderground Railroad. Finding information about this toute is literally like trying to find a needle in a haystack. At the gravesite of Captain William Mitchell, the leadet of the abolitionist movement in Wabaunsee, Pitts talked about the risk taken by those who worked with the Underground Railroad. He explained how they could be taken to prison or forced to assist boimty hunters in renirning slaws to their owners under the second Fugitive Slave Act. Patt of the landscape ovetlooking Mitchell ' s grave was Mount Mitdiell. At the top of the hill, it was possible to see the trail escaped slaves took coming toward Mitchell ' s cabin, a pivotal stop on this spur. From this vantage point it was also possible to see the trail that led away from the safety of his cabin and toward freedom. As the tour ended, Pitts described the secret hiding place in the Mitchell ' s cabin. Mitchell cleared the shelves of a cabinet and used them as a ladder to the attic above, replacing the china aftet escapees were safely hidden. There were times, Pitts said, when Mitchell was caught by bounty hunters, but the punishments he received did not deter him from helping others. Afterwards, Pitts reiterated his goals. We are all Americans, he said. We all ha ' e dark parts of our history. We have to get over this racism thing. (Those who worked with the underground railroad) got over it. — Megan Wilson 16 Student Life