YSU A stop for 'railroad' information

The YSU station will attempt to preserve and remember the Underground Railroad.
YOUNGSTOWN -- Youngstown State University will become a "freedom station" of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center.
Dr. Spencer Crew, executive director of NURFC in Cincinnati, and YSU President David Sweet are expected to make the announcement Tuesday at a campus news conference.
NURFC, headquartered at the University of Cincinnati, examines the historical value of the Underground Railroad movement, which helped assist black slaves escape the South to the North during the 1800s.
"The YSU Underground Railroad Freedom Station will develop and direct a consortium of individuals, institutions and organizations located in Northeast Ohio ... regarding the Underground Railroad and similar civil and human rights movements," the NURFC says.
Looking back: Dr. William Jenkins, YSU history professor, said northeast Ohio was a "hotbed of abolitionist sentiment" in the 19th century and that the YSU Freedom Station will be "a multifaceted attempt to preserve and remember the Underground Railroad."
He said there are many places in northeast Ohio linked to the civil rights movement.
"The goal of the station is to make residents aware of the brave men and women who either sought freedom or created pathways to freedom," Jenkins said in a press release. "We want to reinforce our heritage of freedom seeking."