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Lake Effect Segments

Descendant of Underground Railroad 'Passenger' Preserves Its History

Before the Civil War, one route of the Underground Railroad traveled right through Milwaukee. We meet one woman whose great-great-great grandmother took it to freedom. Kimberly Simmons is the director of the Detroit River Project, which seeks to increase the visibility of Underground Railroad sites in Michigan and Ontario. Her great-great-great grandmother, Caroline Quarrls, escaped her life of slavery in St. Louis and escaped through the Milwaukee area en route to Canada. She spoke with Mitch Teich. Simmons is in Milwaukee this week to speak at schools and visit some of the sites where her ancestor hid. One of those sites was in a sugar barrel, located in front of what was a general store near the corner of Wisconsin and Water - which also happens to be where we broadcast from every day.