KKK and the Underground Railroad

Visited MoAD today, Museum of the African Diaspora. I was expecting more of an expansive historical look at the migrations of people and the current cultural spectrum of various populations. It wasn't that, though there were some tidbits of that, it was mostly... top floor -- modern art and "statement" art, next floor, things about slavery (not expansive), South Africa (rather more expansive), the spread of culture, food, music (not expansive), a bit about the 60s, Howard Thurman, and Toussaint L'ouverture (liberation of Haiti).

...and so now, I tell my story that I recall from childhood mention of the Underground Railroad...

Growing up, I recall my grandmother and my father mentioned numerous times that the large brick home my grandparents owned was a link in the Underground Railroad. This is Middletown, Indiana. They said escaped slaves would hide in the basement until it was safe to move on to the next stop. On my last visit to the area (around 2006?), I asked my father, and he pointed out another larger home (or mansion, it might be called) that was also part of the Underground Railroad. The other home was a few doors over, and my father said it had trap doors that people could hide in.

Keep in mind that this is an all white town, somewhat redneck (or extremely redneck, depending upon your perspective). It is not far from Elwood, Indiana, which has been known as a KKK headquarters.

Though I don't know much of the history (Indiana is not big on Black History), and Indiana was never a slave state, I would guess that the KKK became active as slaves migrated northward. My guess is that there were people who wanted to help them find a new life, but also knew that there was too much local prejudice, and so it would be best for the escaped or released slaves to keep heading northward to Chicago.

And so the Underground Railroad was a necessary component even in a "free" state, because even if it was a free state, there was lots of prejudice and KKK activity.

For awhile, my aunt was elected mayor of this small town. There was concurrently a move by the National Park Service to begin some sort of exploration towards exhibits related to the Underground Railroad. I talked to my mother, "You know, Middletown could get on the map if they established an Underground Railroad museum. They might get visitors from Indianapolis." Of course, many of the visitors would be black, and my mother just laughed at the notion. The last thing that Middletown would want would be a lot of black tourists nosing around town, because on the surface, Middletown is still an all-white town, and those would help the blacks get ahead are a silent minority.