The Delaware Underground Railroad: A National Model for the state’s first National Park Unit - Freedom Land Park. The National Freedom Land Park is designed to include the entire state including Delaware’s vast resources, related themes, and topics associated with the Underground Railroad and the ideals of freedom in Sussex, Kent, and New Castle County. Delaware was considered a major corridor traveled during the 19^th Century by Harriet Tubman and freedom seekers who escaped to freedom from the south to the north. The Underground Railroad was a secret network of paths, hiding places, and courageous individuals from all backgrounds and cultures who aided heroic freedom seekers to the north and Canada. “The fellowship of the Underground Railroad was truly ecumenical, including Roman Catholics, Jews and Protestants as well as freethinkers”.  (Charles Blockson)

  “It is a part of our history which reflects well on the country, but which has an unhappier side… We need to remember we were a country in which slavery existed. And at the same time remember there were people who thought it was wrong and were willing to risk their lives to change it.” Congressman Peter Kostmayer, January 23, 1990. 

Goals and Objectives:

1.   To preserve and enhance the ideals of freedom, justice, and equality for all people regardless of race, creed, economic, social, or national origin.

2.   To chronicle the history and legacy of authentic sites and stories related to the Underground Railroad, consistent with the universal principals and values of freedom shared with the world community.

3. Underground Railroad northeast map and guide, land, waterways & handbook.

4.   To increase public awareness and promote state and regional economies. 

5.   HR 4578 - U.S. Congress - 2.5 mil funding resources for the preservation of historic sites or structures.

6.  Support the establishment of Delaware's First National Park Unit.  Delaware Freedom Schooner: Sailing museum and exhibit, class room, gift shop.

7.  To document a half century of contemporary resources to restore and preserve the Underground Railroad. Sub-title: Pioneers of the Underground Railroad

8. Develop a high-tech marketing program equivalent to 21st Century technology.

9.   Incorporate the Universal Voices of Freedom. 

10. Develop community humanitarian Underground Railroad programs:       Example. Freedom Scholarships, International Freedom Festival & Concert. 

The National Freedom Land Park includes a comprehensive network of land, water, rails & trails, cities, towns, villages, historic districts, monuments, cemeteries, settlements, forts, and narratives of heroic Freedom Seekers & the Anti-Slavery Movement.   

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Concept C. NPS Underground Railroad Special Resource Study:  “Under this concept people would be able to visit a defined geographic area that contains multiple Underground Railroad Resources. These resources would include portions of documented escape routes, both land and water, as well as landscaped features, archaeological remains, traditional African American and Native Americans communities, conductors, homes, barns, and other structures associated with the Underground Railroad…”The Underground Railroad story has universal significance for people throughout the world.”  

A special resource and feasibility study to identify, analyze, evaluate, and recommend the appropriate designation for the new National Park Unit in Delaware. There are (389) National Park Units and Delaware is the only state without a National Park. Rhode Island has three NP sites and Guam has one. Delaware is entitled and deserves at least three sites comparable to Rhode Island. The state holds the exclusive title, “the first state” to ratify the constitution, December 7, 1787, which should qualify Delaware for the World Heritage List. “A list of World Cultural & Natural Heritage Recognized as Exhibiting Outstanding Universal Value”. Caesar Rodney, the state’s Patriot traveled (80) miles to sign the Declaration of Independence and tried unsuccessful as Speaker of the House in 1769 to have a law passed prohibiting the importation of slaves in the state. 

NPS Eligibility for Consideration: National Significance.

·     It is an outstanding example of a particular type of resource.

·    It possesses exceptional value or quality in illustrating or interpreting the natural or cultural themes of our Nation’s heritage.

·  It offers superlative opportunities for recreation, for public use and enjoyment, or for scientific study.

·   It retains a high degree of integrity as a true, accurate, and relatively unspoiled example of the resource.  

Background significance: Since 1990, a series of legislation was passed by United States Congress to commemorate the Underground Railroad, the forgotten chapter in American history. July 1984 - Dr. Charles L. Blockson, Curator of the Blockson Collection, Temple University, and who traced his ancestors via the Underground Railroad from Seaford, Delaware wrote a front-cover article for National Geographic titled, Escape From Slavery, the Underground Railroad.  

January 1990 - Congressman Peter Kostmayer (PA) met with Blockson @ Mother Bethel AME Church, Philadelphia and later introduced the concept of tracing the Underground Railroad based on Blockson’s research. Kostmayer introduced (HR 3863) & Senator Paul Simon (IL) introduced in the Senate (SB 2809).  

November 28, 1990, Congress enacted Public Law 101-628, which directed the Secretary of the Interior through National Park Service to conduct a study of alternatives for commemorating and interpreting the Underground Railroad, and established the National Underground Railroad Advisory Committee consisting of nine members throughout the country.  Dr. Charles L. Blockson served as Chair of the committee 1993-95.

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Five concepts published in NPS Special Resource Study were developed to commemorate the Underground Railroad. The Delaware National Freedom Park would include a combination of Concepts A, B, C, D and E.

·        Concept A. Establish a Commemorative, Interpretive, Educational, & Research Center.

·        Concept B. Enhance Interpretation & Preservation of Multiple Sites.

·        Concept C. Establish National Park System Project Area.

·        Concept D. Establish a Commemorative Monument

·        Concept E. Establish Underground Railroad National Recreation Trail (s).  

January 27, 1998 - Congressman Louis Stokes (OH) sponsored HR 1635. Senator Carol Moseley Braun sponsored in the U.S. Senate SB 887: An Act to establish within the United States National Park Service the Underground Railroad Network to Freedom program, and for other purposes.  

July 21, 1998 - President William Jefferson Clinton signed PL 105-203. An Act to establish within the United States National Park Service the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom Program, and for other purposes.  

October 12, 2000 - National Park Service Network to Freedom program was launched in the city of Philadelphia. The Harriet Tubman Historical Society mailed NPS Network applications to the Northeast Corridor sites; Delaware Underground Railroad organizations, University of Delaware, Delaware State University, and the Harriet Tubman Home, Auburn, New York. The city of Cincinnati is planning to open a 100 mil Freedom Center in 2004. Why not Delaware, the first National Freedom Park linking authentic sites both structural and the natural environment, a perilous trail traveled by thousands via the forest/woods, swamps, marshes, waterways and river crossings. The 1848 trial of Thomas Garrett & John Hunn for aiding the Samuel Hawkins’s family an exhibit on display at New Castle Court House is an authentic story for students and visitors. It is time for Delaware to accept the highest role of historic preservation and moral excellence and preserve, not only the structures, but the principals and values of the freedom embraced by the Underground Railroad’s legacy. The Delaware National Freedom Park.    

Delaware’s Freedom Trail attracts International Scholars: The Harriet Tubman Historical Society in cooperation with the University of Delaware International Department hosted scholars throughout the world in regards to Delaware’s Underground Railroad sites & interpretive programs: Australia, Bangladesh, Belrus, Brazil, Burma,Costa Rico, Dem. Rep. Of the Congo, Dominican Republic, *Fulda, Germany, Germany, Ghana, Hungary, Hankuk University, Korea, India, Indonesia, Moldava, Mozambique, Nepal, Palestine, Pakistan, Paraguay, Romania, Russia, Senegal, Slovak Republic, Syria, Turkmenistan, South Africa, Togo, Vietnam,  Yugoslavia. 

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February 20, 1990 – Senator(s) Joseph Biden (DE) sponsored (SJR 257), supported by Sen. Bill Roth. Congressman Thomas Carper (DE) sponsored (HJR 479). President George Bush, U.S. Congress  designated March 10, 1990, Harriet Tubman Day, PL 101-252. Harriet Tubman Day is celebrated annually throughout the country and was recently recognized as an annual celebration by Governor George Pataki, New York.    

July 1994.  Ms. Barbara Tagger, NPS historian and Vivian Abdur-Rahim visited & identified several Underground Railroad sites in Delaware. NPS comment forms were distributed  & completed by site supervisors and returned. Nineteen sites were published in NPS Special Resource Study - 1995 as a historic first and beginning for recognition of Delaware’s Underground Railroad.   

February 1999 - Robert Reyes, National Parks Mid-Atlantic Council, and Ralph Vincent, President’s Street Station, Baltimore visited the city of Wilmington & contacted the Harriet Tubman Historical Society. A historic meeting with James Baker to discuss the state’s Underground Railroad & the legacy of Thomas Garrett. Reyes & Vincent expressed an interest in a National Park Site for the state and suggested Old Town Hall as an excellent site for the state’s first Underground Railroad National Park Interpretive Center on the Market Street Mall. 

April 4, 2000 - Senator Charles Schumer (NY) introduced (SB 2345), to direct the Secretary of the Interior to conduct a special resource study concerning the preservation and public use of sites associated with Harriet Tubman located in Auburn, New York, and for other purposes and to include sites in the state of Maryland, Senator Paul Sarbanes (MD).  Mr. Houghton and Mrs. Meeks introduced in the House (HR 3712).

(PL 106-516) The Harriet Tubman Special Resource Study. 

May 10, 2001 Release - Senator Margaret Rose Henry (DE) sponsored (SB 186) cosponsored by Representatives Hazel Plant &. Dennis P. Williams signed by Governor Ruth Ann Minner. An Act to Amend Title 29 of the Delaware Code Establishing Freedom Trail Historical Monuments. This Bill directs the Department of State, and its Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs to recognize sites that evidence the Freedom Trail in Delaware. The Freedom Trail is the Underground Railroad, which helped slaves to freedom and other sites associated with African American Freedom in Delaware. SB 186 provides funding resources for freedom trail historical monuments and markers in the state. 

May 8, 2003 - NPS sponsored a public meeting in the city of Wilmington to receive comments from the general public about Harriet Tubman’s trail in Delaware. The Harriet Tubman Historical Society in support of NPS Harriet Tubman Special Resource Study Team (Ms. Barbara Mackey) invited individuals from the state’s three counties. An estimated (80) attended.   

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“Harriet Tubman made numerous trips through Delaware after her escape from Maryland, following the Choptank River route. She described to Siebert in Boston April 8, 1897 including how she made use of stations at Camden, Dover, Blackbird, Laurel, Millsborough, Concord, Seaford, Georgetown, Lewes, Milford. Frederica, Smyrna, Delaware City, Middletown, and New Castle, on her way to Wilmington and Philadelphia. The Underground Railroad by Charles Blockson 

National Park Service Network to Freedom Program and “Gatherings” are excellent examples of community, public, and historic preservation organizations actively involved in the national effort to preserve the Underground Railroad. Funding resources are needed to continue this valuable program.  

June 21, 2002 - Congressional Record: Representative Mike Castle (DE). “Delaware has a rich heritage in the underground railroad. There are 18 underground railroad sites in Delaware including the Governor’s house at Woodburn where I lived, the courthouse where abolitionists Thomas Garrett was tried, and numerous other sites utilized by the principal underground railroad conductor Harriet Tubman…Pursuant to the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom Act of 1998, Delaware Underground Railroad Coalition is seeking $250,000 to develop a heritage plan to highlight Delaware’s role in the underground railroad”. 

October 17, 2002 - Washington, D.C. – Press Release from U.S. Senators Joseph Biden and Thomas Carper announced: Delaware Underground Railroad Gets Quarter Million Boost from Congress. The following statements were included. “We must protect our history if we are to learn its lessons. The self- sacrifice of the men and women who manned our state’s Underground Railroad still inspires Delawareans today”, Carper said. Senator Biden…calling it an “important symbol for our nation’s fight for freedom and equality”.  “The Underground Railroad played such an important role in our nation’s history of this state, It not only symbolized the beginning of the civil rights movement in this country, but represented the incredible courage and determination of the men and women who risked their lives to help hundreds of thousands of slaves escape to freedom. If we as a nation are to continue to move forward, we cannot afford to ever lose sight of where we’ve been. The National Park Service has identified (380) Underground Railroad Sites nationwide, 19 of which are in Delaware…the timing of the grant is critical as many sites are in danger of being lost or destroyed”. 

Immediate Action is needed to save endangered sites in the state and preserve Wildcat Manor, the ancestral home of the Hunn family, Dover. Brinkley Hill Cemetery, Camden. Daniel Corbit’s Clearfield Farm, Smyrna. Wildcat consists of (100) acres and a structure with a caved-in tunnel believed used for the Underground Railroad. There are numerous sites for future discovery of the state’s Underground Railroad sites, structures, interpretive themes, and acts of resistance. State Historic Preservation Officer(s) continue to research additional information about the Underground Railroad following NPS Special Resource Study and the proposal for a $250,000 Network to Freedom grant.   

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Summer 2002 - Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton sponsored (SB-111) and her office contacted the Harriet Tubman Historical Society about Harriet Tubman’s Civil War Pension initiated by the Albany Free School, Albany, New York. Introduced in the House by Rep. Eldolphus Towns, NY., HCON 374. November, 2003 - Press Release: Senator Clinton Secures Funding to Repay Harriet Tubman Civil War Pension.  

Cambridge, Maryland: July 2002. The Harriet Tubman Museum & Educational Center,   424 Race Street, developed a proposal to “create the nation’s newest national park” honoring Harriet Tubman, Dorchester County, Maryland. On July 9, 2002, 3,328 delegates attending the NAACP Annual Convention unanimously endorsed the creation of the Harriet Tubman National Park.  

The Underground Railroad challenged the human spirit to extend beyond the complexities of one’s individual self worth. When in the Course of human events--Life Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness became the universal anthem for freedom. The July 1984 National Geographic article, Kostmayer’s legislation and the National Celebration of Harriet Tubman Day inspired an awareness and interest throughout the country, including historians, scholars, authors, archeologists, collectors, students, and tourism.  

The Harriet Tubman Home, Auburn, New York caught the attention of First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton and received the Save America’s Treasures grant to preserve and protect the historical site. President Bill Clinton & the First Lady visited the home (1998), and even traveled to Goree Island, Senegal to experience the “Door of No Return”, the horrific exodus of thousands of African families who were shipped out to travel the wretched middle passage. “America’s struggle to  overcome slavery and its legacy forms one of the most difficult chapters of that history. Yet, it is also one of the most heroic—A triumph of courage, persistence, and dignity. The long journey of African-Americans proves that the spirit can never be enslaved”.  President Bill Clinton, Goree Island.

Vivian Abdur-Rahim, Founder/Director of the Harriet Tubman Historical Society (DE) served as a member of NPS Underground Railroad Advisory Committee appointed by the Secretary of the Department of the Interior 1993-95. She expressed support for the Underground Railroad study by attending hearings in May 1991, held by Congressman Peter Kostmayer, House Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, Washington, DC. 

The Delaware National Park Nomination for the first National Park Unit is submitted by The Harriet Tubman Historical Society, Star Hill Historical Society, Lucreatia Wilson, Director, Willis Phelps, Patricia Phelps, Phyllis Davis, Heritage Productions, and Honorary Life Members of the Harriet Tubman Historical Society. Forrest Dixon & Beatrice Patton Dixon, Honorary Life Members of the Harriet Tubman Historical Society, Founding Members of  Underground Railroad Coalition of Delaware, Beatrice Patton Dixon, President May, 2000 - The Harriet Tubman Millennium Pilgrimage, Addie Richburg, Washington, D.C. 

References: The Delaware Freedom Land Park was developed from National Park Service Underground Railroad Special Resource Study 1995, excerpts from the Declaration of Independence and the Congressional Record. 

Underground Railroad Coalition of Delaware name was formerly reserved by Vivian Abdur-Rahim & payments of a  monthly  fee.  Officially incorporated by the present said Wilmington  group 9-18-02. The name was identified by at least one  reservation  number  for state incorporation # 3434324.   

NPS Special Resource Study available at Wilmington Public Library Reference Department, 10^th & Market Streets, Wilmington, Delaware & other public places. Freedom Land Park, a national corridor designed to include authentic sites, waterways, and freedom trails beginning in southern states en route to Canada.  Freedom Land title by the Hon. Samuel Guy, Wilmington.   

The Freedom Village Complex: Wilmington, Urban Garden of Liberty:

Legislation and other dates may vary