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‘Footsteps to Freedom’ presenters urge educators to use local primary sources in literacy and history instruction
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Summary
Footsteps to Freedom, an immersive history program led by Hardy Brown Jr. and collaborators, was presented to the board as a professional development opportunity that uses primary sources and multi‑site tours (Ohio, Michigan, Canada, New York) to deepen teachers' understanding of abolition‑era and local Inland Empire history.
Former board member Hardy Brown Jr. and current board member Andrea De Leon described the Footsteps to Freedom program to trustees, urging more educators to participate in the multi‑day, primary‑source‑centered history tour that visits Underground Railroad sites, historic Black college campuses and museums in the Midwest and Canada.
Brown described using primary documents, hand‑colored maps and museum artifacts to help teachers “observe, reflect and question” — a Library of Congress method he said the program uses in classrooms. He reviewed stops on the tour, including Ripley, Ohio; Wilberforce University; the Henry Ford Museum and communities in Canada such as Buxton, and said the program connects national abolitionist history to local Inland Empire stories (for example, regional ties to Booker T. Washington and other figures).
Board members who attended the program described it as emotionally powerful and useful for classroom engagement. Dr. Gwen Dowdy Rogers said the tour “is an eye‑opening experience” that reinforces the importance of literacy and historical empathy. Hardy Brown offered primary‑source packets and artifacts to the board and encouraged trustees to participate in summer tours and to help introduce the program to district educators.
No board action was required; several trustees encouraged staff to publicize future tour dates and to consider ways to bring the program to county educators. The presenters said Footsteps to Freedom offers materials and teacher‑focused professional development that can be used locally to strengthen literacy and history instruction.
