The Old Slave House's Importance
Ive been going through some old newspaper stories about the Old Slave House and found one I wrote back on New Year's Eve, 1996.
The day before a delegation from the Illinois Underground Railroad Association brought with them Vincent DeForest, a 30-year veteran of the National Park Service who had just headed up the agency's national Underground Railroad Initiative. A quote from that article answers the professor's comments on why the history of the Old Slave House should not only be preserved, but promoted to the public:
Ive been going through some old newspaper stories about the Old Slave House and found one I wrote back on New Year's Eve, 1996.
The day before a delegation from the Illinois Underground Railroad Association brought with them Vincent DeForest, a 30-year veteran of the National Park Service who had just headed up the agency's national Underground Railroad Initiative. A quote from that article answers the professor's comments on why the history of the Old Slave House should not only be preserved, but promoted to the public:
Harrisburg Daily Register: "It is definitely a site that is deserving of not only protection, but if the history is legitimate, I think this is one of the key sites in the country in terms of looking at slavery."He also offered the state the suggestion that they should look outside the box in terms of developing the site, much like our plan of action suggests.
"We need to find different creative partnership approaches to preserving sites in light of the cutbacks in preservation and conservation."
