CHALLENGE
There’s a famous old spiritual ‘One more river to cross’ and it’s celebrated in a permanent exhibition of the same name at the Niagara Falls Underground Railroad Heritage Center. First an explanation. There’s no railroad under the falls. The ‘Underground Railroad’ was a network of people, routes and methods of transport used by slaves to reach a better life in Canada by crossing ‘one more river’.
The Heritage Center aims to tell the story from the perspective of the leading figures and the people involved in the Underground Railroad. Not easy, when most of the events took place in the 1800s. The organizers also aim to recreate the experiences of these people so that visitors get a real sense of the challenges the freedom seekers, the abolitionists and their helpers faced and overcame. And there’s another great spiritual, ‘All my trials Lord soon be over.’ The aim was not just education, but inspiration.
