The newly completed Josiah Henson Museum in North Bethesda will hold a community event on Sunday, September 12, commemorating International Underground Railroad Month. The celebration, hosted by Montgomery Parks, will include free family-friendly events, period re-enactments, and musical performances.
As a conductor on the Underground Railroad, Reverend Henson lead 118 former enslaved people to freedom and established his own settlement in Canada. About 20 years later, Henson wrote a autobiography about his experiences entitled The Life of Josiah Henson, Formerly a Slave, Now an Inhabitant of Canada, which inspired Harriet Beecher Stowe’s landmark novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin.
The community celebration at the museum will last from 12 p.m. until 4 p.m. and include musical performances, re-enactments to reflect on the past, and a Peace Pinwheels demonstration to portray people’s plans to bring peace to the world, according to Montgomery Parks.
