Silver Jubilee Celebration of the UGRR Network to Freedom

Since its birth by Congressional mandate on July 21, 1998, the National Underground Network to Freedom has grown from a scattershot smattering of recognized sites of UGRR activity into a truly international network of 744 sites, programs, and research facilities.

Collectively, this vast network and the researchers behind it have profoundly expanded and transformed our collective understanding of the multi-generational, multi-racial, multi-national efforts to resist the institution of slavery through flight and escape.

To kick off this silver year, the National Park Service and Network to Freedom staff will host a celebratory event, featuring seminars, guests and a film festival on Friday, July 21, at one of the crown jewels within the Network to Freedom, the recently opened, 10,000-square-foot Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Visitor Center on the grounds of Harriet Tubman State Park near Cambridge, MD.

Stephanie Gilbert licensed her research to be used to certify Network to Freedom sites:

• Moses Cartland’s Home in Lee, New Hampshire
• Thaddeus Stevens’ Office in Lancaster, Pennsylvania

Gilbert research was also used to recently secure Network to Freedom grant funding for Howard County (Maryland) Historical Society to erect a monument.

Stephanie Gilbert is scheduled to attend the 25th Anniversary celebration of the US National Parks’ Service Network to Freedom and will follow with a demisemiseptcentennial recreation of the escape of Oliver Cromwell Kelly (Gilbert) on August 20, 2023, tracing his Underground Railroad journey from Maryland to Pennsylvania, following in his footsteps as outlined in his autobiography and using the directions provided to him by ‘Mr. Fisher’, the UGRR operative in the Ellicott City (Ellicott Mills at the time) area.