EVENT PHOTOS: Freedom Seekers at Manatee

Thank you to all who attended the Open House with Exhibit and Speakers on Saturday, March 30. 

Angola was a community of freedom seekers in the 1810s located between the Manatee River and Sarasota Bay. It was a place of refuge and peace until it was destroyed in a massive slave raid in 1821. What were the events that brought the freedom seekers to the Manatee River? What happened to those who were captured, and those who escaped?

Attendees of this event viewed the first permanent exhibit that tells the story. They also heard three lectures by researchers who helped uncover this history and designate the site as part of the National Park Service Underground Railroad Network to Freedom.

Willard Steele: The Negro Fort- Where the Underground Railroad met the Trail of Tears
Dr. Uzi Baram: Tragedy and Survival: Archaeology and Commemoration of Freedom at the Manatee River
Judith Wellman: The Underground Railroad Network to Freedom

 


“Funding for this program was provided through a grant from the Florida Humanities Council with funds from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this exhibition do not necessarily represent those of the Florida Humanities Council or the National Endowment for the Humanities.”