NEW YORK — There’s extra significance to Juneteenth for Bronx residents as they try to discover the history of the Underground Railroad throughout the borough.
Residents told CBS New York on Wednesday that they have been walking through history for hundreds of years and it is time to acknowledge it.
“Even though you may not see it, it’s here. It’s something that’s been forgotten,” said resident Perrin Lawton.
There are no markings on the sidewalks, no signs on the church and nothing referencing the Underground Railroad in the neighborhood.
“People are really taken back because they’ve lived here all their lives and they just didn’t know this history existed,” Nilka Martell said.
But Bronx residents are taking back the history they say is theirs on June 1 by honoring the three secret Underground Railroad stops used by enslaved African Americans to escape and find freedom.
Martell, the founder of Loving the Bronx, leads walking tours in the borough and said they only recently learned about the two locations in the South Bronx and one in West Farms.
“This is what the building actually looked like at Mott Haven Reformed Church,” Martell said. “This was one of the stops here for the Underground Railroad.”
Dr. Steven Payne of the Bronx County Historical Society said they don’t have much data on the stops, but evidence of enslaved people in the borough has been found in cemeteries like the one in Hunts Point.
“Creative measures must be taken to bring this history together,” Payne said.
Residents say the history of the Underground Railroad has been buried almost beneath the surface for hundreds of years. They say it’s finally time for it to come to light and for people to become aware of the history they are walking in.
“You’re standing on something that’s so historic and I think as soon as you notice it, you start to feel the energy,” Lawton said.
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