HERITAGE FESTIVAL Exhibit to focus onTrumbull's anti-slavery efforts

Local families helped escaped slaves in defiance of the law.
WARREN -- An Underground Railroad exhibit titled "Nurturing Pathways to Freedom in Trumbull County" debuts during the Trumbull County Heritage Festival this Saturday and Sunday.
The exhibit, funded by the Warren Library Association to give the community a glimpse into the historical realities concerning local anti-slavery sentiments from the 1820s to the 1850s is outside the Sutliff Museum on the second floor of the Warren-Trumbull County Public Library in downtown Warren.
It will be available to the public during normal library hours.
Local historian Wendell Lauth researched and selected the informational content of the exhibit.
Display's sections
The display features four sections:
UAnti-slavery sentiments in the 1820s and 1830s.
UOrganized efforts and leadership in supporting the Abolition Movement in the 1840s.
UTravel on the Underground Railroad in the 1850s.
UArtifacts depicting the evils of slavery.
On display are reproductions of photographs, maps, newspaper articles and original historic documents discovered by Lauth during his research, including a slave auction broadside and documents from the Sutliff family collection that speak of their involvement and the community's participation in Abolitionist activities.
After the revised Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 was passed, it became an act of treason to sympathize with escaped slaves, yet, a number local families continued their activities.
Freedom Station
Last year, the Warren-Trumbull County Public Library was designated a Freedom Station with the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati, charged with continuing efforts to inform and educate the public about Underground Railroad activities in the area.
The library association is a private oranization which operates Sutliff.