SCHOOLCRAFT, Mich. — The class trips and private tours are delayed due to COVID-19, but those driving through a small Kalamazoo County village still pass an American landmark.
"There are quite a few people who are not aware of Schoolcraft's participation in the Underground Railroad," said Nancy Rafferty, secretary of the local historical society.
At his home near what is now US-131, Dr. Nathan Thomas sheltered people escaping slavery they traveled through Michigan, according to the National Parks Service. Most of the information surrounding Thomas' work on the Underground Railroad comes from his wife Pamela's writings.
"[They] estimate between 1,000 and 1,500 escaping slaves came through this area," Rafferty said. "This particular route, called the Quaker Line, went from Battle Creek and through Marshall and ended up in Detroit. Then across the Detroit River into Windsor."
Many of the former enslaved people came from Cass County on their way further north to Canada, Rafferty said. A community of free Black people, Quakers and other abolitionists helped many along the journey, according to the Underground Railroad Society of Cass County.
"This was an important time in our history where there were very brave former slaves determined to find freedom and some brave people willing to help them," Rafferty said.
Most education on slavery and the Underground Railroad focuses on specific individuals, such as Harriet Tubman and Fredrick Douglass, said Dr. Nakia Parker, a dean's research associate at the Michigan State University College of Social Science.
"While it's important to learn about these people, it's also important to learn about the institution of slavery as a whole," Parker said.
Juneteenth is a reminder that some of the struggles newly emancipated people faced remain 155 years later, she said.
"We see Ahmaud Arbery not able to jog freely or someone going into Central Park to look at birds, and they're threatened," Parker said. "While progress has been made, there is still a struggle for African Americans to exist in the United States."
This is a continuing story, and people are going to continue working for equality, Rafferty said.
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