Beyond the Road to Freedom

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) - History comes to life in this journey back to the days of the Underground Railroad.

Re-enactments featuring runaway slaves making their way to freedom offer lessons in courage and determination. The legendary Harriet Tubman, the "Moses of Her People," is featured throughout the documentary.

Authentic sites dating back to the days of abolitionism add to the realism. Untouched original hiding places for slaves are revealed. The Niagara Frontier is gaining national attention because of its rich history.

The National Park Service inaugurated the country's new Network to Freedom Program at Murphy Orchards in Niagara County.

The woods and creek at the orchards are believed to have been on the route for escaping slaves heading north to Canada.

New York Governor George Pataki signed landmark legislation in Buffalo requiring the teaching of the Underground Railroad in the state's public schools.

He returned to the city to dedicate one million dollars for the restoration of authentic sites throughout the state.

The civil rights movement had its earliest origins in the Niagara region.

The Niagara Movement was the forerunner of the NAACP. The Rev. Dr. J. Edward Nash was a leader of this movement at the turn of the century, and his original home and its contents are now being preserved for a museum of black history.

The project is expected to draw tourists from all over the world to Buffalo, and provide the city's East Side with a new heritage tourism industry.

Beyond The Road To Freedom is hosted by Senior Correspondent Rich Newberg, with contributing reports by Mylous Hairston. They touch on forgotten history and also show how the 1901 Pan American Exposition in Buffalo offered both hope and despair for an aspiring African American community in the country's eighth largest city at the time.
 

Producers: Rich Newberg, Tom Vetter, Don Dawkins
Executive Producer: Chris Musial
Aired: January 30, 2002
Runs: 26:46