Freedom Seekers and the Underground Railroad in Illinois
LWV Chicago’s Chicago in Focus lecture series recently featured a talk with Dr. Larry McClellan, historian and author, who discussed the history of freedom seekers and the Underground Railroad in Chicago and Northeastern Illinois.
Watch the full lecture above, and please share the video with your family and friends.
For those interested in helping research Illinois listings in the National Park Service Network to Freedom, please contact Dr. McClellan at mcclellan.larry@gmail.com directly.
LWV Chicago's Chicago in Focus lecture series seeks to highlight and explore the most important issues facing Chicagoans today. This Chicago in Focus lecture was held virtually on February 3, 2025. The program was co-sponsored by the University of Chicago Library.
Please consider making a contribution to our Chicago in Focus fund to help to keep our free public informational programs going throughout the year.
About the Speaker
After graduate work at the University of Chicago, Dr. Larry McClellan helped create Governors State University south of Chicago in 1970 and served with the University for 30 years. He is Emeritus Professor of Sociology and Community Studies. In the mid-70s, he was mayor of University Park (then Park Forest South). He spent four years as a senior consultant with the Northeastern Illinois Planning Commission, and throughout his career, served as pastor with diverse congregations.
His consulting, research and writing focus on freedom seekers and the Underground Railroad, and on African American and regional history south of Chicago. Major publications include 25 articles in the Encyclopedia of Chicago [2005]; The Underground Railroad South of Chicago [2019], co-author of To the River, The RemarkableJourney of Caroline Quarlls, a Freedom Seeker on the Underground Railroad [2019]. Onward to Chicago: Freedom Seekers and the Underground Railroad in Northeastern Illinois was published by Southern Illinois University Press in 2023. This received the national 2023 Memorial Prize for the Advancement of Knowledge from the Underground Railroad Free Press. In 2022 he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Illinois State Historical Society for his contributions to Illinois history and, in 2024, they gave his latest book their Award for Superior Achievement.
Larry has spoken at five Illinois state history conferences and three national conferences of the National Park Service Network to Freedom program. He was the principal researcher for listings on the NPS Network to Freedom national register of Underground Railroad sites in Crete, Lockport, and Chicago. Some of his work will be found at illinoisundergroundrailroad.info.
For ten years, he wrote a monthly regional history column for The Southtown/Star newspapers. Larry graduated from Occidental College in Los Angeles, with a year at the University of Ghana in West Africa, and additional studies in Great Britain and Jerusalem. He has served on the boards of the Illinois State Historical Society and the Will County Historical Society and has given lectures and programs across Illinois. Currently he is President of the Little Calumet River Underground Railroad Project and serves on the Illinois Underground Railroad Task Force.
