New Underground Railroad exhibit opens

SANDUSKY — The Follett House, Sandusky Library's free local history museum, recently opened a new exhibit on Sandusky's role in the Underground Railroad. And in related news, a city official provided an update on plans to post new Underground Railroad signs in various Sandusky locations. History lesson The Underground Railroad is the term historians use for the surreptitious effort to help runaway slaves from the South escape to places where they could be free, explains a new display cabinet now in place at Follett House, 404 Wayne St. It's now operating under summer hours of 1-4 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday. The earliest known incident in Sandusky of an escaped slave being helped to freedom was in 1820, the exhibit explains. Underground Railroad activity in Sandusky continued right up to the Civil War, which began in 1861. After the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act in 1850, which increased the danger for former slaves to live in free states such as Ohio, much local activity focused on getting escapees to Canada, where slavery was banned. The exhibit includes a famous artifact, a fancy cane presented to abolitionist Rush Sloane by local African-Americans after he helped seven people get to safety to Canada. Sloane was fined $4,330 after he was convicted of breaking the law by defying the Fugitive Slave Act. "It's nothing to sneeze at today, but back then, it was a lot of money," said Jeremy Angstadt, the museum services manager for Sandusky Library. Angstadt put the new exhibit together, aided by a graphical display put together by Joe Pohorence, the library's graphic designer and technology expert. Angstadt said further new exhibits are planned as Sandusky joins other Ohio communities in celebrating the 250th birthday of the U.S. in 2026. Local historians working on the effort will have their next meeting on Tuesday, said Ron Davidson, special collections librarian for Sandusky Library. Underground Railroad signs update Last year, a now-former Sandusky official, Marcus Harris, obtained a $40,000 grant to put up new signs in nine city locations on the city's role in the Underground Location. The nine locations, at or near downtown, include Follett House, the Rush Sloane House and Second Baptist Church. Each sign is supposed to have a QR code that will play a sound recording of a local citizen explaining the role each of the locations played in the Underground Railroad. Harris, formerly the city's diversity and economic opportunity manager, moved on a few weeks ago, accepting a new position as director of programs and services at Greater Cleveland Works, the workforce development board for Cuyahoga County. "The America 250 project was awaiting the delivery of the physical signs at the time of my exit with the city. The final design of the interpretive signage graphics needed to be awarded to complete the project," Harris said. The job of completing the sign project has been turned over to Tom Horsman, the city's communications manager, and Leslie Mesenburg, the city manager's executive assistant. "I believe the sign structures are scheduled to be installed within a month or two," Horsman said. "Unfortunately, the signage content will take a bit longer to install than we anticipated," he added. "The project involves a digital storytelling component through an app, which involves setting up a tour and recording the narrations for each site, which will take a few months to get done." He continued: "Right now, we hope to have everything ready to launch by early next year. I hope to get it done sooner, but we're still working through the details."