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Ted Freeman is an author with ancestral ties to the Underground Railroad.

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Our Lives: Author with ancestral ties to Underground Railroad releases new book

Welcome to our lives. I'm Gwen Edwards. There is a new app that allows you to virtually visit sites on the underground railroad. Ted Freeman has ancestral ties to the underground railroad and he joins me now. Welcome to our lives. Thank you so much. It's really my pleasure to be with you today. Talk about your ancestral ties. My great, great, great, great grandparents, Harry and Kate Freeman were co-founders of the city of Auburn, New York back in 17 93 when it was harden corners. And in 17 94 they started the free slave colony called New Guinea. And New Guinea was a place for free blacks and runaway slaves and was the progenitor of the entire Underground movement. Harry and provided safe haven for individuals escaping from the south and then was able with their entrepreneur skills and their connection with Harden was able to put them to work. See Auburn became one of the important terminals in the underground railroad movement. Four major terminals. Philadelphia, New York, Boston. This is on the east coast Auburn, but these were places where you could be assimilated into the society and the community and Auburn provided work protection and an opportunity. And a new life. Tell us about your connection to Harriet Tubman. You've got to understand that Harriet did not have much involvement with the Auburn Central New York activities. Harriet went up through Philadelphia and went up that way into Canada as quickly as she could. She took her family to Saint Catherine, Harriet and Harriet's mama and Harriet's tribal people did not like that cold. It was too cold. The important thing they need to know is Harriet was a fugitive people. Fail to remember that the fugitive slave act of 18 50 had dire consequences for people being involved with runaway slaves. Auburn, New York was the only safe place in America for Harriet Tubman. Now, what are some of the important things you want people to know about the underground railroad? The, the whole entire underground movement is not like it's been depicted. There's a lot of houses with small rooms where good people kept slaves, runaways for one or two days, but they were satellites and you had this exchange going on the movement of people and then black and Harry would put them to work. Ted, tell us about your new book. This will tell you everything about the Underground Railroad. The History up here. You can get it on Amazon. Well, Ted Freeman, thank you so much for sharing your story. It's my pleasure and we want to thank you for watching our lives where we bring you information interviews that you will see nowhere else for our lives. I'm Gwen Edwards.

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