UNDERGROUND RAILROAD ADDITIONS: At the end of National Park week in April, Second Gentleman of the United States Douglas Emhoff and Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland announced 16 additions to the National Park Service’s National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom Program.

The new listings join nearly 700 other sites, programs, and facilities in the network that honor, preserve, and promote the history of resistance to enslavement through escape and flight.

At the event, National Park Service Chief Historian Dr. Turkiya Lowe and Park Ranger Casimer Rosiecki from Gulf Islands National Seashore highlighted two of the new listings, including the Lizzie Ambie Escape Site in Cambridge, Maryland, and the Barrancas in Pensacola, Fla.

“The Underground Railroad was pivotal to the ongoing struggle for civil rights, and the stories of freedom seekers, such as Lizzie Ambie, who bravely self-liberated are still humbling to us today,” said Dr. Turkiya Lowe. “The Network to Freedom Program is dedicated to amplifying diverse histories and providing a platform to convey a more complete history of our country.”

The Underground Railroad Network to Freedom Program is a catalyst for innovation, partnerships, and scholarship that connects and shares the diverse legacy of the Underground Railroad across boundaries and generations.

It coordinates preservation and education efforts nationwide and integrates local historical places, museums, and interpretive programs associated with the Underground Railroad into a mosaic of community, regional, and national stories.

There are now 682 listings in 39 states, Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands in the Network.