Before the Civil War, slavery didn’t just haunt the South - it sent shockwaves into small Northern towns, too. In this episode, I sit down with public historian EJ Murphy of the Destination Freedom Project to talk about Waverly, Pennsylvania and the secret routes that helped people escape bondage—linking communities across Northeastern Pennsylvania. We get into what the Fugitive Slave Act changed on the ground, how you tell this story when sources are thin, and why visitors keep saying the same thing on these tours: I grew up here…and I had no idea. Listen to this episode of Public History.
Podcast | “Destination Freedom” with Public Historian EJ Murphy