UK researcher explores how communities remember the Underground Railroad

For generations, communities along the Ohio River have passed down stories about the Underground Railroad and the people who helped enslaved individuals escape to freedom. Through his research, Daniel Vivian, Ph.D., associate professor in the University of Kentucky College of Design, studies how those stories have been remembered, interpreted and shared.

“My research is on historical memory of slavery, the Civil War and how people in the generations after the Civil War are making sense of this massive conflict and the changes it has wrought on America,” Vivian said.

Drawing on photographs, archival records and local histories, Vivian examines how collective memory has shaped public understanding of slavery, freedom seeking and anti-slavery activism in Ripley, Ohio. Located along the Ohio River, Ripley became an important site of Underground Railroad activity during the 19th century.

“John Parker was born a slave, purchased his freedom and became a successful owner of a small iron foundry in Ripley. He was also known to be involved with the Underground Railroad,” Vivian said. “Years ago, I went to Ripley to see an exhibit about Parker and that kind of clued me into the importance of Ripley generally as a site of Underground Railroad activity.”

As Vivian dug deeper into archival records, photographs and historical accounts, he found that few researchers had examined how Ripley’s residents remembered and shared the community’s Underground Railroad history.

“I was aware that nobody had really written very much about them,” Vivian said. “And yet I had come across sources that suggested there was a lot going on historically over time, and it was worth looking into.”

His research reveals that Ripley occupied a unique place in the history of anti-slavery activism before the Civil War.

“So basically, it’s on a transportation corridor where runaway slaves trying to cross the Ohio River had relatively easy access, and it becomes known as a place where there is assistance rendered.”

Vivian’s work highlights how public memory can elevate some stories while obscuring others. While many people associate the Underground Railroad with well-known white abolitionists, historical evidence shows that Black communities and formerly enslaved people often played central roles in helping freedom seekers along their journey.

“There’s this kind of romanticization of the movement, and pretty quickly it seems like everybody’s cousin, uncle, father-in-law was somehow involved in Underground Railroad," Vivian said. “What that does is create this body of remembrance, but it suppresses what historians have identified as the real story.”

A key part of Vivian’s work examines photographs and other visual records created in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He says those images offer a unique window into how communities chose to remember their past.

“Memory is social,” Vivian said. “It’s not just handed down and repeated person to person, generation to generation. We’re actively shaping it as we talk about it.”

Vivian’s project was supported by funds from Celebrating University Research Across the Enterprise (CURATE), a program funded by the Office of the Vice President for Research.