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Pennsylvania Summer 'Live and Learn' Weekends Offer Gripping Tales of Those 'Fleeing for Freedom'

Posted on: Thursday, 11 June 2009, 12:07 CDT

HARRISBURG, Pa., June 11 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Dramatic tales about enslaved people who went great lengths to live on free soil will be the focus of this summer's Live and Learn Weekends in Pennsylvania, the state Tourism Office announced today.

"Fleeing for Freedom: Stories of the Underground Railroad as told by William Still and Levi Coffin," by George and Willene Hendrick, is the featured book for the summer series.

The summer series begins June 19-20 in Lancaster, where attendees will take part in special living history presentations in conjunction with Juneteenth events. The series continues June 26-27 in Boiling Springs and Philadelphia with special performances and tours, and it concludes Sept. 4-5 in Erie and Sept. 11-12 in Blairsville, Indiana County, with tours of local Underground Railroad sites and experiences.

Each Live and Learn Weekend offers an open discussion about the book with a historical scholar on the first day; the second day will include historic site tours, living history presentations and performances.

"This is not a stuffy historical review -- it is a provocative discussion punctuated with astonishing stories about the extreme measures those enslaved took to become free," said Mickey Rowley, deputy secretary of tourism with Pennsylvania's Department of Community and Economic Development. "While Fleeing for Freedom provides the gripping accounts of this struggle, those attending Live and Learn Weekends can make a correlation to today's struggles while exploring some of our greatest historical sites."

"Fleeing for Freedom: Stories of the Underground Railroad" is a compilation of the first-person accounts of perilous escapes and heroic rescues taken from the autobiographies of two abolitionists in Pennsylvania: Levi Coffin, a successful Quaker merchant, and William Still, a free African-American businessman who served as the clerk of the Philadelphia Society for the Abolition of Slavery.

Stories in the book show the uplifting and dark sides of the quest for freedom. Tales like those of Henry "Box" Brown, who shipped himself as freight to Philadelphia; and the Gateses, who disguised themselves as a young master and her body servant. There is also the harsh reality of events like the violent clash in Christiana, Lancaster County, between slave-catchers and abolitionists.

For more information or to register, visit www.paquestforfreedom.com. Books can be ordered online at www.pabookstore.com or purchased at Borders Books locations in Pennsylvania. Free books will be provided by the Pennsylvania Humanities Council to the first 50 people who register for each book weekend.

Live and Learn Weekends are a project of the Pennsylvania Tourism Office, Jump Street, the Pennsylvania Humanities Council, and the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. American Urban Radio Network and The New Pittsburgh Courier also provide promotional support for this project.

The Pennsylvania Tourism Office, under the state Department of Community and Economic Development, provides travelers with the information they need to enjoy the activities and attractions in Pennsylvania, visitPA.com or call (800) VISIT PA.

CONTACT: Jamie Fulginiti (717) 783-1132

SOURCE Pennsylvania Tourism Office

Source: PR Newswire

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