Underground Railroad tales told in story, song at Lombard chapel

"The Liberty Lines: How the Underground Railroad Spurred the Civil War" is a moving history in song and story.

Spearheaded by musician and author Andrew Calhoun, and performed by an ensemble cast, "The Liberty Lines" will be presented at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 21, at Lombard's historic Maple Street Chapel, 200 South Main St.

Tickets are $20 in advance and $25 at the door.

"'The Liberty Lines' grew out of an annual program I have been a part of at the Graue Mill for over a decade," Calhoun said. "I wanted to expand the production, to trace the history of the Underground Railroad as a grass-roots movement of conscience that spurred the Civil War."

The show features authentic spirituals and folk songs, interspersed with readings from 19th-century slave narratives and other primary sources.

Key to the performance are slave narratives by Frederick Douglass and James Pennington; the true story of the woman crossing the Ohio River from which Harriet Beecher Stowe took her tale of "Eliza crossing the ice" for "Uncle Tom's Cabin"; authentic quotations from Harriet Tubman and the account of a military raid she organized and led in South Carolina; and essential information on African-American military participation in the Civil War from "Black Reconstruction," by William E.B. Du Bois, and Thomas W. Higginson's "Army Life in a Black Regiment."

Songs include "Get On Board, Little Children," "Go to Sleep, My Baby," "One More River to Cross," "Sun Don't Set in the Morning" and "Go Down, Moses."

The cast of singers, actors, and musicians joining Calhoun includes Tonya Peebles, Gloria Robinson, Christopher Skyles, Runako Soyini, Chris Walz and Casey Calhoun.

"The Liberty Lines" program is produced by Andrew Calhoun and Melissa Dagenhart, in conjunction with the Maple Street Chapel Preservation Society.

Tickets are available at andrewcalhoun.com/liberty-lines. For details, write to Melissa Dagenhart at outboxedmusic@gmail.com.

More information about Andrew Calhoun can be found on his website at www.andrewcalhoun.com. More information about the Maple Street Chapel Preservation Society can be found at its website, maplestreetchapel.org.

If you go

What: "The Liberty Lines: How the Underground Railroad Spurred the Civil War"

When: 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 21

Where: Maple Street Chapel, 200 South Main St., Lombard

Cost: $20 in advance at andrewcalhoun.com/liberty-lines; $25 at the door

Info: maplestreetchapel.org