Oct. 28, 2005

The words of some of Marshall’s most prominent historical figures will be spoken – nearly 158 years after a series of events that informed the local, national and international discourse on slavery and freedom – during a tour and re-enactment in Marshall on Saturday, Oct. 29.

Often known as the "Crosswhite Affair," the January 1847 attempt of Kentuckians Francis Troutman and David Giltner to recapture Sarah and Adam Crosswhite and their five children to return them to slavery, and the response from the Crosswhites and the local community, will be re-enacted during a free walking tour starting at 2 p.m. from the Crosswhite historical marker (800 E. Michigan Ave., across from the VFW Hall) on the east edge of downtown Marshall.

When the Kentuckians broke into the Crosswhite home in Marshall four years after they escaped from Carroll County, African American and European American residents came to the aid of the family and resisted their recapture.  The accounts of those involved in this important 1847 event will provide the script for actors playing their roles.  For more information about the tour, contact tour coordinator Patty Parker at (517) 279-5665.

"We’re thrilled about adding this tour to the other great initiatives that commemorate the Underground Railroad in Michigan," said Parker.  "We know that those who walk with us on Saturday will feel the importance of retracing the steps of Sarah, Adam and others and hearing, as closely as possible, the actual words of the people who put Marshall on the anti-slavery map."

Later in the day, a multi-media performance of dramatic readings, persona poems, visual art and music will give contemporary voices to the stories of African Americans who escaped enslavement by walking, rowing, or riding from the South to Michigan and to what they hoped was freedom.  Taking place at 8 p.m. at the Franke Center for the Arts (214 E. Mansion St., Marshall), Each of These Legs is a Road will feature Denise Miller, poet, artist and Kalamazoo Valley Community College professor; Dr. Michelle S. Johnson, Freedom Trail coordinator for the state of Michigan; Linsay Kelly, Kalamazoo vocalist; and Count Laws, an actor for the tour and frequent Adam Crosswhite re-enactor.

Tickets for the performance, sponsored by Southern Michigan Bank and Trust, are $7 for adults and $5 for students 21 and younger.  All proceeds go to the Franke Center.  For ticket information, call (269) 781-0001. 

The tour on Saturday brings together not only the words of those involved in the Crosswhite Affair, but also many individuals and organizations working to preserve Michigan history.  To recreate perspectives of that 1847 morning, organizers from the Marshall Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), the Michigan Freedom Trail Commission, recipients of a Kalamazoo Arts Council grant, and volunteers from Kalamazoo, Battle Creek and Marshall drew from depositions representing many sides of the struggle over the Crosswhites' status.  Miller and Johnson found these depositions, collected in the Crosswhite case for the resultant U.S. Circuit Court trial in Detroit in 1848, in the National Archives in Chicago while researching stories of African Americans who escaped slavery and settled in or passed through Michigan. 

"When I saw the words of not just Sarah Crosswhite, but of the numerous men and women who helped shape that day, I felt history and wanted to give it breath again," said Miller, who creatively interpreted her findings through Each of These Legs is a Road.

"While we have spent a good deal of time researching and documenting what people often think of as secret activities, one of our Freedom Trail Commission priorities is to provide more opportunities for Michigan residents, and those outside the state, to see and feel the sites and people that make up this important history," said Johnson. 

The Michigan Freedom Trail Commission is part of the Michigan Historical Center, an agency of the Department of History, Arts and Libraries (HAL).  To learn more about the commission and its work, visit www.michigan.gov/freedomtrail or call (517) 335-2726.

Dedicated to strengthening the economy and enriching Michigan residents’ quality of life by providing access to information, preserving and promoting Michigan’s heritage and fostering cultural creativity, HAL also includes the Library of Michigan, the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs, the Mackinac Island State Park Commission and the Michigan Film Office.  For more information, visit www.michigan.gov/hal.

Read more press releases from the Department of History, Arts and Libraries.