Members of the Illinois Underground Railroad Task Force – including state legislators like Illinois Assistant Majority Leader Sen. Dave Koehler (D-Peoria, back) and renowned Underground Railroad historian Larry McClellan (center) – present the state task force’s recommendations to bring the more piecemeal history of Illinois’s part in the Freedom Fighter movement together during a Nov. 12, 2024 press conference in Springfield. [Livestream]  

What was once documented primarily in local projects across the state will now come together as one cohesive, preserved historical record of the Underground Railroad in Illinois, state legislators and historians said during a Tuesday press conference.