2012 Kansas Network to Freedom Conference

The “First City of Kansas” and the Underground Railroad

Riverfront Community & Convention Center, 123 South Esplanade Street, Leavenworth, Kansas

Full schedule and registration information available on the conference brochure. Download the brochure here.

Discussions of the Underground Railroad in Kansas rarely include Leavenworth. However, despite having a reputation as a pro-slavery town, the “first City of Kansas” was quite active. Located just across the river from the slave state of Missouri, Leavenworth became an important destination for enslaved people in search of freedom.It was upon arriving in the city that freedom seeker, Henry Clay Bruce, “felt himself a free man.” The one-day conference will explore Leavenworth’s and the surrounding area’s role in the Underground Railroad and celebrate Leavenworth’s first National Park Service, National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom Listing,the Site of the Planters Hotel. In anticipation of the 2013 National Underground Railroad Conference, which will look at the Underground Railroad during the Civil War and in recognition of Leavenworth’s important military history, the conference will also explore the Underground Railroad’s military connections.

The keynote speaker will be Mark Christ of the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program and editor of Rugged and Sublime: The Civil War in Arkansas and “All Cut to Pieces and Gone to Hell”: The Civil War, Race Relations, and the Battle of Poison Spring. His presentation entitled, “An eagle on his button and a musket on his shoulder": Black Regiments in Civil War Arkansas, will include discussion of the 1st Kansas USCT, which was recruited at Leavenworth. Following the event, there will also be an optional tour and dinner with performance.

Registration costs are $35 for conference (lunch); $15 Tour; and $25 dinner and performance. Registration forms can be found on the program and mailed to Kansas NTF 2012, PO Box 2551, Topeka KS 66601.

A room block is available at the InterContinental Hotel at Fort Leavenworth. Mention that you are with the National Park Service for a room rate of $65. You must make your reservations by phone, 913-684-4091, by July 20 to receive the special rate.

We look forward to seeing you there!

For more information, please visit: www.nps.gov/ugrr