Underground Railroad Historian to Speak at NSNA Annual Meeting

The guest speaker for the 2023 NSNA meeting on Sunday, October 15 will be Barry Jurgensen, Midwest Regional Manager/Historian for the Network to Freedom Program [NTF], a program of the National Park Service. According to the National Park Services website, the NTF “honors, preserves and promotes the history of resistance to enslavement through escape and flight, which continues to inspire people worldwide. Through its mission, NTF helps to advance the idea that all human beings embrace the right to self-determination and freedom from oppression.

Jurgensen will speak of the research journey that resulted in the recent inclusion of the John M. Thayer House at 1901 Prospect St as a site in the Underground Railroad Network to Freedom Program.

With the assistance of UNL students from a class taught by College of Architecture Professor Frank Ordia, Mr. Jurgensen conducted research regarding actions taken by John. M. Thayer, an early Nebraska Statesman and Colonel of the 1st Nebraska Regiment during the Civil War on behalf of freedom seekers.

-Marcie Young, Section 14 Representative