CHILLICOTHE, Ohio — The Ross County Historical Society hosted 81 guests on the opening night of their fall lecture series, Thursday. The theme was the Ungergeound Railroad.

Andrew Feight PhD was the lecturer who presented research that he has been working on through Shawnee State University in Portsmouth. The purpose of his studies is to shed new light on the Ohio, Kentucky, and West Virginia activity involved in the Underground Railroads that helped people escape from enslavement.

During the opening of the lecture, Feight explained the importance of understanding that the “Freedom Seekers” were being assisted in their trekking north, through the United States, by “organized arrangements to aid fugitives from slavery.” He specifically pointed out that the Underground Railroad was “illegal activity.” As these sites have become more prominent in people’s general knowledge of historically significant places, they are being not only recognized, but also preserved through local, state and national funding.

On July 21 of this year, the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom Act was celebrated for having been a national initiative to recognize self-liberation sites, programs and facilities across the nation, according to the National Park Service at www.nps.gov. This was signed into law under former President Bill Clinton. This is the legislation that Feight referred to when sharing with the audience that there are sites in the Ross and Pike County areas that could become designated historically significant locations by the National Parks Service.

Feight has a background in American History, specifically the Abolitionist Movement. As part of the Shawnee State University faculty, he is part of a team that is conducting research that will bring over 50 sites in a tri-state area of the Appalachian Foothills, to the attention of the National Park Service. Each site, given they meet set criteria, could be awarded the distinguished designation as a historical site within the Network to Freedom Marker program, bringing national tourism attention as well as recognition of the impact the Underground Railroad had on shaping the past, present and future of the United States of America.

More information is available online for the upcoming lectures being held at the 45 West Fifth Avenue in historic downtown Chillicothe, Ohio.