While the exhibit is hosted in Danville, there are numerous programs to expand the city’s Underground Railroad story in the community. Take advantage of the wonderful opportunities noted below.

All events are held at the Vermilion County Museum

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Exhibit Opening

Thursday, January 15, 2025, 5:30

Join us for the special opening event of the Journey to Freedom exhibit at the Vermilion County Museum. Heather Feezor from Looking for Lincoln will share some background on the individuals highlighted in the exhibit and how the exhibit came to be. 


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Songs of the Freedom Road by Chris Vallillo

Saturday, January 24th, 2 PM

Songs of the Illinois Freedom Road is the powerful new musical performance featuring the songs, stories, and struggles of the Illinois Underground Railroad. Lincoln Log Cabin will present this performance of award-winning folk musician Chris Vallillo. The show features rare first-person accounts of freedom seekers who passed through Illinois. Highlighted stories include John and Mary Little, who traveled on foot 140 miles to Chicago, and George Burroughs, a black Canadian who worked on the Illinois Central Railroad where he helped smuggle escapees to freedom.

Vallillo extensively researched the subject using primary source documents such as the 1857 Slave Narratives of Canada and the WPA Slave Narratives as well as the most recent scholarship on the subject. Vallillo combines these powerful stories with eleven historic songs that were sung by the enslaved to inspire and share knowledge among themselves There is no cost to attend the performance, and no reservations are required.

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Free Saturday at Vermilion County Museum

Saturday, February 7th, 10am to 4pm

Visit the Journey to Freedom: Illinois’ Underground Railroad exhibit (Center building and exhibit only) and the main museum for free.

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Lincoln Birthday Open House

Sunday, February 8th, 1:30 to 4:00 PM

Come help the Vermilion county Museum celebrate Abraham Lincoln’s 217th birthday.  The day’s events will include birthday cake, the Journey to Freedom exhibit, special award’s ceremony for the winners of the Lincoln Birthday Poster contest, and both the Dr. William Fithian Home and the Museum Center will be open for viewing.  

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Quaker Abraham Smith—Radical Abolitionist on the Illinois Prairie

Thursday, March 12th, 6 PM

“Mr. Smith (Quaker Abraham) was an honored member of the Society of Friends (Quaker); in political principles a radical abolitionist of the pronounced type, and was an energetic and active business man.” (Taken from History of Vermilion County by H. W. Beckwith, published 1879, page 574.)

John Everett Ellis has compiled a book containing an account of Quaker Abraham Smith and his activities in east central Illinois and beyond. The information has been gleaned from early newspaper articles, history books, and other authentic, though for the most part, out-of-the-way sources. 

His program will tell about Quaker Abraham Smith, a Renaissance man, who was a zealous participant and leader in all the reforms of his day. Smith operated a station on the Underground Railroad in his home in Ridge Farm, Illinois.  He gave anti-slavery speeches across the Illiana Prairie never wavering in his stance against slavery even though he was verbally abused and physically threatened.