DISCOVER THE PROUD LEGACY OF PENNSYLVANIA'S QUEST FOR FREEDOM

Join together with others to explore Pennsylvania’s Quest for Freedom stories at Live & Learn Weekends at sites across the state. Participate in the dialogue on race and culture from the time of the Civil War and Underground Railroads to the present day.

Or, take a Freedom Journey on your own by immersing yourself in the stories and places where ordinary people with extraordinary determination changed our nation's history. Explore Pennsylvania's Quest for Freedcom destinations.

The Live and Learn Weekend is offered as a four-part series, and on each weekend, humanists and scholars will facilitate discussions regarding the featured book.

On the first day, the book discussion series will feature open dialogue in the model of the nationally acclaimed "animating democracy forums" to generate town hall meetings by discussing a book chosen specifically for each of the four weekends.

On the second day, scholars and first person living history personae will guide audiences and visitors through a tour of historic sites that relate to that weekend's featured book. The scholars for each location are:

Philadelphia: Dr. Robert Engs of William and Mary College
Pittsburgh: Veronica Watson, Assistant Dean of Indiana University of Pennsylvania’s College of Humanities and Social Sciences and Director of the Frederick Douglass Institute
Lancaster: Dr. Louise Stevens of Franklin and Marshall College
Erie: Sarah Thompson, former Director of Education for the Erie County Historical Society
Chambersburg-Carlisle: Latonya Thames-Taylor of West Chester University

The weekend doesn’t stop there. Participants are encouraged to continue exploring on their own in the present-day communities that were so deeply affected by the Civil War and Underground Railroad trails through cultural and leisurely activities.

The 2009 Live & Learn series are based on selected books that explore race and culture through the lens of four themes: flight, resistance, social change, and self-empowerment. Selected works and experiences reflect the essence of the state of independence. These books are listed below along with the dates and locations where they will be featured:

The Radical and the Republican: Frederick Douglass, Lincoln and the Triumph of Anti-Slavery Politics by James Oakes (2007)

Song Yet Sung by James McBride (2008)

Fleeing for Freedom: Stories of the Underground Railroad As told by William Still and Levi Coffin by George and Willene Hendrick (2004)

My Confederate Kinfolk: a 21st-century Freedwoman Discovers Her Roots by Thulani Davis (2007)

Log onto PHMC’s online bookstore to order each Live and Learn Weekend featured book at www.pabookstore.com/pastbo. Or, pick up a copy of the book at participating Borders Book Stores across Pennsylvania or at the events.

The first 50 people to register at each participating site will receive a free book

To register to attend a Live and Learn Weekend or for more information, visit www.paquestforfreedom.com.