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Great Lakes Region: Pathway For Freedom Seekers, Then And Now

Published October 13, 2017 at 1:46 PM EDT
The orginal base of a bridge in Niagara Falls that was used by Harriet Tubman to help runaway slaves escape to Canada. (Angelica Morrison/Great Lakes Today)
The orginal base of a bridge in Niagara Falls that was used by Harriet Tubman to help runaway slaves escape to Canada. (Angelica Morrison/Great Lakes Today)

More than 150 years ago, the Great Lakes region played a key role in the Underground Railroad. Runaway slaves made their way to cities along the lakes and crossed the border to freedom in Canada.

Today, thousands of asylum seekers who came to the U.S. are heading north, too. Great Lakes Today’s Angelica Morrison (@amorrisonWBFO) reports.

Great Lakes Today is a collaboration of WBFO in Buffalo, New York, WCPN Ideastream in Cleveland and WXXI in Rochester, New York.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.