Gulf Islands Accepted as New Sites in Underground Railroad Network to Freedom Program
From the cannon perspective, Fort Massachusetts, Ship Island, Mississippi, Photo by NPS/Bernstiel
Ship and Horn Islands, managed by Gulf Islands National Seashore, were accepted into the National Park Service’s National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom Program on September 29, 2022.
The National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom is a federal program that commemorates the stories of the men and women who risked everything for freedom and those who helped them. It honors, preserves, and promotes the history of resistance to enslavement through escape and flight worldwide. Through its mission, the Network to Freedom helps to advance the idea that all human beings embrace the right to self-determination and freedom from oppression.
“The designation of Horn and Ship Island presents us with further opportunity to tell the inspirational, yet difficult stories of enslaved individuals struggle for freedom,” said Superintendent Darrell Echols. “Gulf Islands National Seashore is honored to be in a position to bring these powerful and previously seldom told stories to this and future generations of visitors.”
