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Join us Sunday, February 22, 2026, 2:30 p.m. in Park Forest Village Board Meeting Room, 350 Victory Drive, for a presentation by Dr. Larry A. McClellan, author and scholar on the Underground Railroad. This program is free and open to the general public.

Dr. Larry McClellan is presenting his ongoing studies of the Underground Railroad and freedom seekers who passed through Northern Illinois and Indiana en route to Canada.  

Dr. McClellan began his early studies in Illinois and then extended his research to Northwest Indiana. Recently, he has extended his research to the South Bend region.

A nationally recognized scholar on the subject, from right in our own backyard, he has written several books, The Underground Railroad South of Chicago, 2019; To the River, 2019; and Onward to Chicago: Freedom Seekers and the Underground Railroad in Northeastern Illinois, 2023; and numerous other publications. Copies of his book will be available for sale at our program.

His research resulted in Crete being named to the National Park Service Network to Freedom register of the Underground Railroad. The McCoy Farmstead site along Sauk Trail, just east of Western Avenue, is also a verified site, which we hope will be included at a later date, as the McCoy’s worked with the Congregational Church in Crete. For the time being, the national support of the Network to Freedom is suspended. Governor Pritzker and the State of Illinois have initiated support of the project with the Illinois Freedom Trails Commission

In 1970, McClellan completed his doctoral studies at the Divinity School at the University of Chicago. He previously studied at Occidental College in Los Angeles and the University of Ghana in West Africa. Also in 1970, McClellan helped to start Governors State University, south of Chicago, where he taught for 30 years. He is an emeritus Professor of Sociology and Community Studies.