Update on Underground Railroad conference

Derek Hankerson, Managing Partner with Freedom Road, LLC., told local Historic City News reporters that he will be addressing representatives from the St. Johns County Library system to inform them about the 2012 National Park Service Underground Railroad Network to Freedom Conference.

The meeting will be held at the Hastings Library on Wednesday, February 9th at 9:30 a.m.

The annual conference, which will be hosted in St. Johns County next year, is held throughout the United States — but this is the first time the conference will be held in Florida.

The theme of the conference will be Black Seminoles and their role in the Underground Railroad; which was known to head south to Spanish Florida — before heading north to freedom.

U.S. Congressman John L. Mica, who represents the 7th Congressional District of Florida, and, award winning actor Lou Gossett, Jr., who is both a Black Seminole and South Carolina Gullah, are planned to be keynote speakers at the conference next year.