Sparking Freedom Tour To Feature Local Accounts Of Enslaved Resistance

FREDERICKSBURG, VA — The Fredericksburg Area Museum is starting a new trolley tour called "Sparking Freedom: Enslaved Resistance in Fredericksburg and Stafford."

The tours, led by Dr. Gaila Sims, curator of African American history and special projects at the museum, will be held in partnership with Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania County Battlefields National Military Park and Discover Stafford.

The Sparking Freedom trolley tour will make stops at several National Park Service sites, as well as several other local historic locations and the Fredericksburg Area Museum.

The program will feature accounts of enslaved resistance, including an uprising of enslaved men at Chatham plantation in winter 1805, the story of Anthony Burns, an enslaved man who escaped to Boston in 1853 but was later apprehended under the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850, and enslaved people like Bethany Veney who resisted sales and auctions.

The Sparking Freedom tours will take place on April 13 and April 27 between 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. and are free and open to the public.

Participants will board the trolley at the Fredericksburg Battlefield Visitor Center at 1013 Lafayette Blvd. Due to limited spots, participants must RSVP for the Sparking Freedom tours.

Two additional trolley tour dates will be available in the fall. A self-guided tour brochure with video and map will also be available after the spring tour dates.