MEDIA, PA – On Saturday, April 27th, Providence Friends Meeting will host a spiritual memorial and historic celebration honoring courageous freedom seekers and the national and local abolitionists and free blacks who helped them.

This celebration of the human spirit will include a Harriet Tubman storyteller, performances by the Lincoln University Choir and recording artist Dani Ocean, inspiration from local religious leaders, and personal recollections from Providence Meeting member Sam Lemon Ed.D. (https://goo.gl/Dja4FQ), whose maternal ancestors, Cornelius and Martha Jane Ridley, were among the freedom seekers sheltered by Providence Meeting.

Local historian, Nancy Webster, will share information about the Underground Railroad in our area, Quaker Abolitionist Thomas Garrett and others who helped innumerable slaves escape to freedom.

Finally, we will tell the stories of local Quakers and other abolitionists including Graceanna Lewis, Quaker abolitionist, suffragist, scientist, and conductor on Underground Railroad in the Kimberton, Pennsylvania area. She and her abolitionist family, the Fussells, are buried in the Providence Meeting graveyard behind the Meetinghouse.

Media Historical Society’s Minshall House, which is located across the street from Providence Meeting at 417 East Front Street, will be open for tours before and after the program (11 am – 1 pm, 4 – 5 pm). The Minshall House is the birthplace of William H. Ridley, the first African American attorney in Delaware County and the son of freedom seekers Cornelius and Mary Jane Ridley.

When: Saturday April 27, 2019, 1 pm – 4 pm, Rain or Shine

Where: Providence Friends Meeting, 105 N. Providence Road, Media, PA 19063. Limited on-site parking available.

Visuals: Harriet Tubman storyteller, musical performances including Lincoln University Choir, speakers, unveiling of memorial in church graveyard.