Susan's Travel's Tours + Trips

MIDNIGHT ON THE EDGE OF FREEDOM: REMEMBERING DETROIT’S KEY ROLE AS A STATION ON THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD. From the early 1800s, The Underground Railroad, a network of secret routes and safe houses, was used by enslaved people in the United States to escape to free states and to Canada. The railroad, at its most active between 1850 and 1860, followed more than one path, but none was more important than the way through Detroit because Canada was the ultimate destination for many freedom seekers. Code named “Midnight” by Underground Railroad “conductors,” Detroit provided access to Windsor, Ontario, Canada, which was just across the Detroit River. The important role Detroit played is honored by the International Underground Railroad Memorial, consisting of sculptures by artist Ed Dwight. “The Gateway to Freedom” on Detroit’s waterfront depicts a group preparing to board a boat. Pointing towards Windsor is George DeBaptist, a Detroit resident who helped those making their way to freedom. The memorial is inscribed both with maps showing Underground Railroad routes to Detroit and with details of quilts that some historians believe were used to communicate information about safe houses.

MOVING, EMOTIONAL AND INFORMATIVE: THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD LANTERN WALKING TOUR FOLLOWS IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF FREEDOM SEEKERS. City Tour Detroit offers a walking tour that leads participants along 2 miles of the path freedom seekers took. The tour begins with a reenactment inside a safe house located in the isolated cellar beneath an historic church. City Tour Detroit Director Karin Risko said: “The idea for the Incredible Journey to Midnight tour came to me in early 2012 when I wanted to offer something different than other tour organizations in Detroit — evening lantern walking tours. I knew I had to do the tour after a conversation at work about my proposed tour elicited the same response from both black and white co-workers: ‘I didn’t know the Underground Railroad ran through Detroit.’ I knew then the story needed to be told and eventually came up with idea of using actors to tell the story. People find the tours emotional and informative. The re-enactment in the basement of Second Baptist Church is both moving and disturbing as attendees get a brief glimpse into the dire circumstances freedom seekers faced. In a pitch black, crowded basement room they hear the ominous pounding on the door of a slave catcher and his footsteps are just a few feet away from their hiding place.” Derwin McKinney, who portrays abolitionists Frederick Douglass (1818-1895) and Henry Bibb (1815-1854), said: “We get so many people who start off the tour reserved but then open up along the way in response to our powerful and thought-provoking scenes. This tour is unlike any other. We touch people emotionally and involve them in an interactive journey that follows in the footsteps of freedom seekers and climaxes at the Detroit River.”