Jiech Bel is a student at Illinois College majoring in health science and minoring in African American studies. She is South Sudanese, born and raised in Omaha, Nebraska.
Philip E. Bradshaw grew up on a farm in Pike County where he still lives and farms with his son and grandson. He helped to found the New Philadelphia Association, serving as its president from the start in 1996 until fall 2024.
Joe Brewer has enjoyed seventeen years as a history and social science teacher at Cuba (IL) Middle/High School. He also serves as president of the Cuba Federation of Teachers Local #3799 and with his students manages a public history podcast called The Forgottonia Project.
My'Kayla Brown graduated in 2023 with a BA in psychology from Illinois College. Today she works for the Illinois Student Assistance Commission.
G. Faye Dant is the founding director of Jim's Journey: The Huck Finn Freedom Center, the only Black History museum in northeastern Missouri. Her new book is Hannibal's Invisibles (Arcadia Publishing).
Terrell Dempsey is vice president and curator of the Quincy Underground Railroad Museum, author of Searching for Jim: Slavery in Sam Clemens's World, and a practicing lawyer in Quincy and Hannibal, Missouri.
Senator Richard J. Durbin, a Democrat from Springfield, is the 47th US senator from the state of Illinois. He was first elected to the Senate in 1996.
Andy Ezard has served as Jacksonville's mayor since 2009 and as city clerk from 2005 to 2009. A lifelong resident of Jacksonville, he also worked in the governor's office and the Illinois Department of Natural Resources.
Carolyn Farrar is past president of the Springfield and Central Illinois African American History Museum who has written for SPAAHM more than $1 million in grants. She is a retired teacher and education consultant.
Barbara A. Farley joined Illinois College as its fourteenth president in 2013, bringing her experience as a business management scholar and professor at several small independent colleges.
Timothy S. Good is a thirty-three-year National Park Service veteran and currently the superintendent at the Lincoln Home National Historic Site. He has authored six history books, and among his degrees is a diploma from the United States Naval War College.
Terrance J. Martin is curator emeritus of anthropology at the Illinois State Museum in Springfield. He codirected the New Philadelphia archaeological project and was the principal investigator for archaeology on the Jameson Jenkins Lot at the Lincoln Home National Historic Site.
Larry A. McClellan, an emeritus professor of sociology and community studies, helped create Governors State University. He was also mayor of University Park. His publications and community work focus on freedom seekers and the Underground Railroad just south of Chicago.
Gerald McWorter (Abdul Alkalimat), emeritus professor of African American studies and information science at the University of Illinois, has served as board member or vice president of the New Philadelphia Association for at least fifteen years and is the great-great-grandson of Frank and Lucy McWorter.
Brian K. Mitchell is the former director of research and interpretation for the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum. A noted scholar of “difficult history,” Mitchell taught African American and public history at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock for fifteen years.
Nalo Mitchell, DMin, is the legislative director at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum and was the inaugural executive director of the Springfield and Central Illinois African American History Museum.
Catharine O'Connell is provost and dean at Illinois College with a background as a scholar and teacher in American studies at Mary Baldwin College and Defiance College, where she built new programs and improved student success.
Earl Pursley is president of the Pike County Historical Society and curator of the East School Museum in Pittsfield, which is one of three museums and one historic home operated by the society. He was part of the construction crew that restored Lincoln's Home in Springfield in 1987–1988.
Emily Pursley graduated from Illinois College in 2023 with a bachelor's degree in history. In high school she organized students to raise money and educate people about New Philadelphia. Today she serves as a Forest Service apprentice at The Homeplace, an 1850s working farm in Land Between the Lakes, Tennessee.
Bryan Renfro became John Wood Community College's seventh president in January 2023. Prior to becoming president of the college, he was vice president of academic instruction at Texas Paris Junior College, among various institutions. He is also a trained archaeologist.
State Senator Doris Turner, a lifelong resident of Springfield, was appointed to represent the 48th Senate District in February 2021 following a long and productive tenure on the Springfield City Council and Sangamon County Board. Before this she worked for the State of Illinois, particularly the Department of Public Health.
Mike Ward recently retired as one of three deputy regional directors serving the Midwest region of the National Park Service. His NPS career started in the Youth Conservation Corps and then historical preservation/maintenance at the Lincoln Home Site in his hometown of Springfield.
Kate Williams-McWorter is associate professor emerita of information sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign and the coauthor with Gerald McWorter of New Philadelphia (2018).
Art Wilson was born and grew up in Jacksonville, served in the US Marine Corps, and later retired from the Illinois Department of Corrections. He wrote for the Jacksonville Journal-Courier. He cofounded the Underground Railroad Committee of the Morgan County Historical Society, which operates Woodlawn Farm, and he leads the Jacksonville African American History Museum.
Brittney Yancy is assistant professor of history at Illinois College with a focus on social movements, urban radicalism, critical race theory, women's activism, and Black women's political and intellectual history.
Cover
On the cover is the logo created by the Freedom Corridor organizing committee; used with permission.
