In the Frazier History Museum’s recent exhibit, maps of 19th century Louisville, Detroit and Toronto hang on the walls amid a timeline riddled with trailblazing stories. A table encased in glass stands next to it, and inside, several fragments of buttons, kitchen china, a tobacco pipe and a pharmacy bottle.
What may look like scraps in a box tells the heroic tale of an enslaved couple’s escape that began in Louisville in 1831.
“Louisville to Liberty: The Blackburns’ Journey” features artifacts belonging to Thornton and Lucie Blackburn, an enslaved couple in Louisville who made a daring escape north to Canada. Frazier’s vice president of mission, Rachel Platt, said the Blackburns’ story is “something out of movie,” and their legacy lives on in parts of Louisville and beyond…