Previous Offerings

Omar H. Ali, Ph.D.
Sunday, June 25, 4:00-5:30 pm Eastern U.S. Time
VIEW RECORDING HERE

This hybrid offering will be an in-person/virtual visit to the “Underground Railroad Tree” in the Guilford Woods of North Carolina. The 300 year-old Tulip Poplar tree is a living monument and witness to the freedom-seekers who were part of this eastern seaboard launching point of the Underground Railroad during the early 19th century. The great tree is located in a 350-acre forest in Greensboro, N.C. We will walk through the woods, share the history of the area, read excerpts from primary source accounts (journals and runaway ads), look at material culture and discuss the oral history of runaway enslaved people (maroons), and explore the ways in which we–people and our living world–create community and connectivity underground, overground, everywhere. Led by historian Omar H. Ali from UNC Greensboro, the offering is part of the “Let’s Learn!: The World as Classroom” initiative of Lloyd International Honors College at UNC Greensboro and the East Side Institute in New York, in partnership with ImprovScience, the African American & African Diaspora Studies Program at UNC Greensboro, and the all-disciplinary honors society Phi Kappa Phi.