Dear Forum

It would take too long to tell why or how I got involved with Underground Railroad research. I do accuse people like Beverly Gray, Bennie McRae, Michel Perdreau, Connie Quarles, Art Thomas (and the list could go on and on), of inspiring, aiding, abetting, inciting, and encouraging me to share and compare with other Underground Railroad researchers what I know, (or what I think I know), about the history of the Underground Railroad.

Having said that, I would like for everyone to know that I was raised in a small rural setting along the Ohio and Muskingum Rivers, among a group of people, some of whose ancestors had been slaves and others whose ancestors had been very active with the Underground Railroad and the Union side in the American Civil War.

I did not learn about slavery, the activity of the Underground Railroad and the Civil War in a classroom. I learned what I know from listening to frequent family discussions while growing up, by going to historical society meetings, visiting former slave plantations, studying the local topography along the Ohio and Muskingum Rivers, and by sitting for countless hours in libraries doing research.

This does not mean that I am smarter than anyone else! It just means that I have a little different perspective than most Underground Railroad researchers. I passionately feel and instinctively know that African American history has up until fairly recently, been omitted, distorted and grossly under documented within the content of general United States history.

I feel that the people on this Underground Railroad Forum can have a positive influence in the quality and accuracy of Underground Railroad research that will eventually be included in text books! I encourage everyone who participates in this forum to put on your thinking cap and help find a way to get control of how Underground Railroad history is presented!

Thank You,
Henry Robert Burke