The route to 'freedom' - from a slave's perspective

It can be difficult to watch Hollywood depictions of America's shameful history as a slave state. But watching movies like the Academy Award-winning "12 Years a Slave" - as difficult as that may be - is nothing compared with the visceral feeling of actually being treated like a slave. That's what visitors experience in the "Follow the North Star" slave sale re-enactment at Conner Prairie in Fishers, Indiana.

It certainly is the closest I ever want to come to understanding the realities of slavery.

And it was one of the few times in my life I was glad I was not traveling with my kids. Being called "cow" and asked "How many calves have you dropped?" was tough enough. I don't think I could have stood hearing someone talk to my daughter that way. And I know my husband could not have taken it.

It is a tribute to the training and acting abilities of the Conner Prairie staff that they are able to depict the horror and helplessness of the slave experience without being so over the top that the guests who paid for the experience are overwhelmed.

But make no mistake: "Follow the North Star" is not for the faint of heart.

Conner Prairie Program

Indiana was a free state in the early 1800s. Fishers, settled by abolitionists, was a hub on the Underground Railroad that helped escaped slaves make their way north. But making it to Indiana was hardly a ticket to freedom for all blacks. Conner Prairie's "Follow the North Star" program doesn't sugarcoat that reality.

The program, which has been running since 1998, was a natural extension of the living history museum at Conner Prairie. It already had an 1836 village and costumes and characters trained in the history, work and life of 1836 Indiana.

The staff researched the Underground Railroad of 1836 Indiana and developed characters who would represent those roles - everything from brutal slave traders to compassionate Quaker families. Because of the huge demands it places on staff, "Follow the North Star" is offered only twice a year - weekends in November and April.

'Follow the North Star' experience

The story line is that guests are all slaves who have been brought north by their owner, who discovers that Indiana is a free state. So he has arranged an illegal sale to sell his "property" - you - to slave traders who will take you back south.

It starts with a short movie shown in a comfortable theater that sets the stage for the evening. Each guest is given a white strip of cloth and told to tie that around his or her head if the experience gets too intense. Then you're loaded onto a tram and driven to your fate as night starts to fall.

It was nearly dark by the time we got to the 1836 village and the brutal reality that we no longer had any control, freedom or rights. We were lined up against a log cabin wall and told not to look at the people who were yelling at us. A few teens in the group started to giggle and were immediately pulled out of the line and made to kneel facing the opposite wall.

It was disconcerting not to be the able to look up or around to see what was happening. We quickly mastered the ability to watch with our peripheral vision while appearing to keep our eyes on the ground. We were quickly divided up among the slave traders who invaded our personal space while yelling rude and personal questions.

Escaping the slave traders

The experience progresses through a series of vignettes - being ordered to do meaningless tasks, being hidden and yelled at by farmers who are more worried about whether they will be punished for hiding escaped slaves than helping us on our way, being recaptured only to escape again and find our way to a Quaker family who does what it can to send us on our way to freedom.

The harrowing evening ends with a sobering recitation for those of us who thought we had successfully found our way to freedom. A costumed interpreter gathers our group of about 20 and tells us each how our story ends:

You would have been caught and sent back to Georgia.

You break your leg in the dark and die alone in the woods.

You drown trying to cross the river.

You are one of only three who make it to Canada and freedom.

We end the evening sitting in a circle and talking about our experience. The parents who brought teens admit it made the experience harder for them. The African-Americans in our group are strangely quiet. My husband admits he had to keep reminding himself it was only role-playing but he still wanted to take a swing at the slave trader who zeroed in on him as a big, strong "buck."

As if that is not sobering enough, the final thought focuses on slavery today. We are given a website (www.slaveryfootprint.org) to visit that asks us about our consumer habits and returns a tally of the number of slaves who work for us today.

For me, it's 78.

Note: "Follow the North Star" is an intense experience. While organizers recommend no one under age 12 be admitted, I can't imagine that either of my kids would have been able to handle this when they were 12. There is a daytime version that would be slightly less intense, and the actors are trained to adjust the aggressiveness of their tactics depending on the reactions of the guests. But be forewarned. As Rosemary Arnold, head of the program, says, "There are 12-year-olds who are fine and 30-year-olds who can't handle it."

Cindy Richards is a veteran Chicago reporter and the editor-in-chief for TravelingMom.com, an online family travel magazine. She and her husband were given passes to attend Follow the North Star in April 2014 for the purposes of writing this review. The opinions are her own.