Call for Contributions: A Virtual Underground Railroad

full name / name of organization: 
The Virtual Education Project

One of the most effective ways of learning is to immerse ourselves in the cultures we study; yet, we often encounter problems when these cultures are separated from us by constraints such as geography or time. When studying various people, places, events, and works, students and teachers rarely have the resources to visit each (if any) historical landmarks pertaining to their subject matter, restricting both research and teaching to textbooks and/or an amalgam of materials from various resources. The Virtual Education Project (VEP) is a large-scale pedagogical undertaking directed at providing both students and teachers with visual introductions to historical and contemporary landmarks (worldwide) relevant to the study of the humanities. Thus, the purpose of the VEP is twofold: 1) to provide educators with a central resource that facilitates both teaching and research, and 2) to encourage independent inquiry amongst students, regardless of their locale.

The Virtual Education Project is currently seeking submissions of photo (or video—email for details) tours of historic sites related to the Underground Railroad. We are interested in tour submissions that explore local museums, homes, memorials, public artworks, and any other significant cultural or community sites that will aid in the study and/or teaching of the institution of slavery and abolitionist efforts in 19th-century America.

Potential Underground Railroad tours might include (but are not limited to):

Connecticut
Francis Gillette House
Elijah Lewis House
Smith-Cowles House
Steven Peck House
Uriel Tuttle House

Illinois
Dr. Richard Eells House
Dr. Hiram Rutherford House
Owen Lovejoy House—Princeton
John Hopsack House—Ottawa

Maryland
Banneker-Douglass Museum
Marietta House Museum
John Brown's Headquarters—Sample's Manor

Massachusetts
William Lloyd Garrison House—Boston
William Ingersoll Bowditch House—Brookline
The Wayside—Concord
Liberty Farm—Worcester
Nathan and Mary Johnson House—New Bedford

New York
Matilda Joslyn Gage House
Richardson-Bates House Museum
William & Frances Seward House

Ohio
Harriet Beecher Stowe House—Cincinnati
John P. Parker House—Ripley
John Rankin House—Ripley
Wilson Bruce Evans House—Oberlin
Rush R. Sloane House—Sandusky

Pennsylvania
Thaddeus Stevens Home and Law Office
F. Julius LeMoyne House—Washington
John Brown House—Chambersburg
Oakdale—Chards Ford
White Horse Farm—Phoenixville

For more information, visit http://virtualeducationproject.org/ or email the editors at virtual.education.project@gmail.com