BRIANA: TONIGHT AS WE CONTINUE , TO CELBRATE BLACK HISTORY MONTH WE VISIT A LOCAL SITE CRITICAL TO THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD. KENNY: THE SECRET NETWORK THAT HELPED SOME ENSLAVED AFRICAN AMERICANS GAIN FREEDOM. WANDA STARKE IS HERE TO TELL US ABOUT THE LOCAL CONNECTION. WANDA: MANY ENSLAVED AFRICAN AMERICANS DREAMED ABOUT FREEDOM, BUT THE PATH TO GET THERE WAS NOT EASY. OFTEN, THOSE WHO ESCAPED WERE CAPTURED, BEATEN AND SOLD TO OTHER PLANTATIONS. SOME WHO WERE LUCKY ENOUGH TO REACH THE NORTH, FOUND ASSISTANCE THROUGH AN UNDERGROUND RAILROAD THAT RAN THOUGH GUILFORD COUNTY ♪ >> WALK WITH ME LORD WALK WITH ME ♪ WANDA: THIS TULIP POPLAR IS A SILENT WITNESS TO ENSLAVED PEOPLE WHO WALKED AND SANG IN THESE WOODS. ♪ WALK WITH ME LORD WALK WITH ME ♪ WANDA: THIS IS 250-YEAR-OLD HISTORY. PART OF THE GUILFORD COLLEGE WOODS UNDERGROUND RAILROAD EDUCATIONAL TRAIL. >> WE HEAR ABOUT PHILADELPHIA AND BOSTON AND OTHER PLACES, BUT THEY HAD TO START SOMEWHERE. WANDA: SOMEWHERE WAS HERE ON WHAT IS NOW GUILFORD COLLEGE. THIS STREET LEVI COFFIN, NAMED FOR THE MAN OFTEN CALLED PRESIDENT OF THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD, PART OF A NETWORK OF QUAKERS WHO SECRETLY HELPED ENSLAVED PEOPLE ESCAPE THROUGH THE WOODS. >> WE THINK IT’S IMPORTANT FOR PEOPLE TO UNDERSTAND THAT NOT ONLY DID THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD HAPPEN IN GUILFORD COUNTY, BUT IT WAS ALSO AN INTERRACIAL NETWORK. THAT IT WASN’T JUST REALLY GOOD WHITE PEOPLE DOING IT, BUT IT WAS FREE BLACKS, IT WAS ENSLAVED PEOPLE. WANDA: ONE OF THEM FREE BLACK , A WOMAN, WORKED HERE IN THIS BUILDING, WHICH STILL EXISTS TODAY. RECORDS SHOW VINA CURRY WORKED IN THE LAUNDRY. SHE USED HER DECEASED HUSBAND’S PAPERS TO HELP BLACK MEN GAIN FREEDOM. >> SHE WOULD GIVE THE FREE PAPERS TO PEOPLE WHO WERE COMING THROUGH. AT THIS POINT LEVI COFFIN HAD ALREADY MOVED UP NORTH, SO THEY WOULD TAKE THOSE FREE PAPERS, GET UP TO LEVI COFFIN, LEVI COFFIN WOULD THEN SEND THOSE PAPERS BACK HERE BY COURIER. >> SHE TOOK AN INCREDIBLE RISK. >> YES SHE DID. >> SHE NEVER GOT CAUGHT? >> NEVER GOT CAUGHT. WANDA: THE CRUELTIES OF SLAVERY INCLUDING THE SEPARATION OF FAMILY MOTIVATED MANY ENSLAVED AFRICANS TO SEEK FREEDOM, BUT NAVIGATING A PATH TO FREEDOM WAS NOT EASY. >> IF YOU WERE SOMEONE WHOP WAS ENSLAVED SEEKING FREEDOM, YOU HAD TO BE VERY AWARE OF YOUR SURROUNDINGS, SO YOU’RE NOTICING IS THERE A DOG BARKING. IS THAT SOMEONE USING THOEDOGS -- USING THOSE DOGS SEARCHING FOR ME? WANDA: THOSE WHO ESCAPED HAD TO BE VERY AWWARE OF THEIR LANDSCAPE OF THE DIPS AND CHANGES, ON THE LOOKOUT FOR LARGE TREES FOR HIDING AND MARKERS FOR SAFE PASSAGE >> A NAIL WOULD BE SOMETHING THAT REGARDLESS OF FOG OR DARKNESS YOU COULD FEEL ON A TREE KNOWING THAT IS SOMETHING PLACED THERE INTENTIONALLY AND USE IT TO HELP GUIDE YOU. >> WE ALL KNOW THE SONG WADE IN THE WATER -- WANDA: SOMETIMES A SONG, A SPIRITUAL, WOULD SERVE AS A GUIDE. >> SO THERE YOU’RE SENDING THE MESSAGE THAT WELL IF YOU HAVE DOGS THAT ARE CHASING YOU, YOU WANNA GET THAT SCENT OFF. SOMETIMES IT MEANT THAT IS WHERE YOU NEED TO MEET US. WANDA: MANY OF THE DETAILS OF THE UNDERGROUND RAIKROAD ARE -- UNDERGROUND RAILROAD ARE DOCUMENTED AT GUILFORD COLLEGE, STORIES SHARED IN THIS BOOK WRITTEN BY LEVI COFFIN YEARS AFTER SLAVERY ENDED. ♪ WANDA: STORIES OF HOPE. STORIES OF SURVIVAL. ♪ SING TOGETHER CHILDREN, DON’T YOU GET WEARY, GREAT CAMP MEETING IN THE PROMISED LAND. ♪ ♪ WANDA: RUNNING THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD MET A LOT OF THINGS HAD TO BE DONE IN SECRET SHARING , INFORMATION WITH ONLY A SELECT GROUP OF PEOPLE. THERE ARE NO RECORDS ON HOW MANY PEOPLE TOOK THE ROUTE FROM GREENSBORO, BUT DOCUMENTS FROM THE COFFIN FAMILY SHOW AMAZINGLY, THERE WERE NO LEAKS IN THE SYSTEM. KENNY: HUGE RISKS FOR THE SLAVES WHO WERE SEEKING FREEDOM BUT A RISK FOR THE HELPERS AS WELL. WANDA: ABSOLUTELY. IF YOU WERE WHITE YOU RISK JAIL TIME AND LOSING YOUR PROPERTY. FREED AFRICAN-AMERICANS RISK JAIL TIME AND LOSING THEIR FREEDOM AND THOSE ENSLAVED RISK PUNISHMENT OF BEING SENT TO ANOTHER PLANTATION IN THE DEEP SOUTH WHERE CONDITIONS WERE USUALLY FAR WORSE. AND THEY WOULD BE SEPARATED FROM FAMILIES. BRIA