Now in 2026
For the year 2026, you are invited to our third conference and to any of our second year of monthly zoom talks. Hope to see you in this first year of the official state Freedom Trails Commission, which we have been organizing for and now celebrate!
The Freedom Corridor began in 2023 and you can explore:
- our founding document to guide our work
- our 2024 conference
- our first year of zoom talks, known as Freedom Conversations
- our 2025 conference
- the State of Illinois Freedom Trails Commission, established in 2025
- the 429 UGRR places in Illinois, now identified by county
- our third conference, organized by the Illinois Network to Freedom Collective
- our second year of zoom talks, starting January 13, 2026
From seven stars in 2024, we can now see 429 stars statewide — as you can see in the logos and explained here.
“The Freedom Corridor is a network of organizations and individuals dedicated to research, education, and celebratory activities that uplift the tradition of freedom seeking and those that advocate for the dismantling of racism and all forms of oppression. The Corridor is established to foster collaboration between historic sites, cultural institutions, and community stakeholders, with the hope of becoming a central voice in the preservation, advocacy, stewardship, and teaching of the region’s African American and other divers
e histories.”
Founding committee (affiliations as of founding):
Dr. Gerald McWorter/Abdul Alkalimat, New Philadelphia Association, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and great-great-grandson of Frank and Lucy McWorter
G. Faye Dant, Jim’s Journey: The Huck Finn Freedom Center (Hannibal)
Carolyn Farrar, Springfield and Central Illinois African American History Museum
Dr. Kamau Kemayó, University of Illinois Springfield
Dr. Brian Mitchell, Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum (Springfield)
Nalo Mitchell, Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum (Springfield)
Alberta Robinson, Jacksonville African American History Museum
Dr. Kate Williams-McWorter, New Philadelphia Association and University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Art Wilson, Jacksonville African American History Museum (In memoriam)
Dr. Brittney Yancy, Illinois College (Jacksonville)