Underground Railroad Conductor Recognition & Juneteenth Celebration

Beginning sometime in the late 1840s and continuing throughout the Civil War, an estimated 800 enslaved individuals passed through Tazewell County on a pathway to freedom in Canada, thanks to a secretive network of citizen volunteers, which today is nationally recognized as the Underground Railroad

Here in Illinois, while a Free State with laws that did not allow slavery within the state, strong laws against harboring runaway slaves or assisting in any way existed. The minimum fine for harboring slaves was $1000 and a minimum six months in jail. Additionally, hired bounty hunters worked within the state to capture and either return or, in most cases, resell individuals into slavery in St Louis.

In Tazewell County, the main pathway of the Underground Railroad entered at Delavan and continued through Tremont to Morton and then around Washington to Metamora. This first recognition event will honor the citizens that worked the Underground Railroad in Morton Township

We meet at the Tazewell County Courthouse to recognize the efforts of Tremont resident Peter Logan who became  the first formerly enslaved person to own land in Tazewell County.

The event is free and open to the public.

Jointly sponsored by
Tazewell County Genealogical & Historical Society
NAACP Peoria Branch
YWCA Pekin’s Coalition for Equality
Tazewell County Clerk John C. Ackerman