(Courtesy of Oberlin College Archives)

In January 1980, nine students undertook one of the most unusual—and most difficult—winter-term projects ever done at Oberlin. They recreated a slave escape on the Underground Railroad.

Eight became slaves, and one acted as an advance man, explaining the project and trying to find accommodations in the town just ahead. They dressed in calico and burlap clothing similar to that of slaves and ate a slave diet of grits, yams, and oatmeal. They slept in barns, slogged on foot through blinding blizzards, and endured subfreezing temperatures on their 33-day, 420-mile trek from Greensburg, Kentucky, to Oberlin. They were the object of obscenities shouted by passing motorists, some of whom forced them into roadside ditches. Thankfully, they also encountered kindness from many who opened their homes, gave them food and money, and received them warmly into their churches. When word got out about their reenactment, the national news media was captivated by the story.

Why did they do it? One of the participants, Larry Spinks ’81, told a reporter, “We wanted to know firsthand what our ancestors went through.”