A popular bus tour developed by the Watkins Museum of History, join us as we travel to historic sites around Lawrence and learn stories of heroism and tragedy from the city's early days as an important place on the Underground Railroad and the fight for a free Kansas. We'll explore homes, cemeteries and other sites that directly witnessed these events and learn about specific people who risked their lives in the cause of freedom. This tour involves several stops where we will walk and explore sites. Those preferring to stay on the bus may do so. We'll conclude our afternoon with a self-guided tour of the traveling exhibition, "Through Darkness to Light: Photographs Along the Underground Railroad," on display at the Watkins Museum of History. Photographer Jeanine Michna-Bales has spent more than a decade meticulously researching "fugitive" enslaved people and the ways they escaped to freedom. From the cotton plantations south of Natchitoches, Louisiana, all the way north to the Canadian border, this series of photographs by Michna-Bales helps us imagine what the long road to freedom may have looked like as seen through the eyes of one of those who made this epic journey. Trip includes bus transportation, docent-led two-hour bus tour and access to the Watkins Museum of History's traveling exhibit.

Course pre-requisites
(required) Osher Membership Fee