Two well-known local stops on the Underground Railroad are being recognized with new historical tour markers. Ceremonies will be held at both locations on Saturday, May 30.
The John Rankin House and the John P. Parker House in Ripley are being added to the Appalachian Freedom Heritage Tourism Initiative to document and interpret Underground Railroad locations across Ohio, Kentucky and West Virginia.
"Over the last three years, we've been researching sites from Ripley all the way up to Gallipolis along the Ohio River," director of research and outreach with the Appalachian Freedom Heritage Tourism Initiative and Shawnee State University History Professor Drew Feight tells WVXU.
Feight says the Rankin and Parker houses are two well-known locations that capture a key aspect of the Underground Railroad: interracial cooperation.
"That it really was African Americans working alongside — sometimes by themselves, but also alongside — white abolitionists and others that were committed to helping freedom seekers."
Feight says the project is bringing to light a lot of previously unheralded contributions to the Underground Railroad and anti-slavery movements.
"This history in the Appalachian region has been, to some degree, neglected [and] overlooked. We've been able to recover really incredible, dramatic history about this resistance to enslavement, and it has revealed an interracial network of whites and Blacks working together in Ohio, helping those crossing the Ohio River in search of freedom."
He notes that churches, especially Black Baptists and Methodist churches and their leaders, played a vital role as locations and conductors.
"We've been able to sort of reveal this secret network of Underground Railroad agents and station keepers," he adds.
Some people may be surprised that historians are still uncovering new information about such a well-known part of American history. Feight says it's important to look at who was recording history, how it was told, and upon whom it focused. For example, the early history of the Underground Railroad focused on white people, especially men, who were helping freedom seekers, and ignored the history and contributions of women.
"If you actually look at the historical record, you find the women there aiding and helping, being a critical part, but historians had overlooked that. Also, I think in the Appalachian region of Ohio, I think there's a stereotype of [it being an] area where there are not a lot of African Americans. But the reality is that all the river cities along the Ohio River had Black communities and those Black communities were really central players in the operations of the Underground Railroad," he says.
"We've been able to recover this history. In some ways, it's been hiding in plain sight and just had not yet been written up and researched."
The Rankin and Parker houses
Built in 1828, the Rankin House atop a hilltop overlooking the Ohio River was one of the most active Underground Railroad stations in the country. It may be best known for a story of a woman fleeing the frozen river, which the Rev. John Rankin shared with Harriet Beecher Stowe and is credited as the inspiration for the character Eliza in Stowe's novel Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852).
John P. Parker was born into enslavement in 1827. After buying his freedom as an adult, he eventually ended up in Ripley where he began what he described as "one of the most adventurous careers of any [Underground Railroad] slaverunner along the entire border."
Despite the homes only carrying their male owners' names, both men worked alongside their wives, Jean Rankin and Miranda Boulden, and a small, interracial network of others in Ripley in carrying out their dangerous, life-saving mission.
Both sites already have Ohio Historical Markers. Now, they'll both have markers indicating they're part of the Appalachian Freedom Heritage Tourism Initiative, too. The tour will have 27 stops across the three states.
"The markers have a brief sort of summary of the historical significance of this site and how it connects into this larger network," Feight explains. "Each marker will have a QR code that will take you to a website, so it's kind of like a virtual historical marker. You'll be able to access a short video documentary of each site that has interviews with our researchers or docents from the historical site, additional historical photos, [and] additional interpretation."
The new markers will be dedicated in consecutive ceremonies Saturday, May 30. The first will be at 11 a.m. at the John Rankin House Historic Site, 6152 Rankin Hill Road, Ripley, OH 45167. It will be followed by the second dedication at 1 p.m at the John P. Parker House, 300 N. Front Street, Ripley, OH 45167.
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