[2002 Web Site]

[TNT Activities]

Year Four of the Underground Railroad Project (2002)

          The Then & Now Program (TNT) began its fourth year with a new name and new players. The program that was originally called Critical Fusion became known as Then & Now Together in 2002. The name change reflects one of the goals of TNT-to bring blacks and whites together today to cooperate on a joint project, just as they did during the years of the Underground Railroad. The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati, Ohio, took on the management and sponsorship of the program this year and recruited Northern Kentucky University in Highland Heights as the new university partner. Together, they conducted the program from January through May 2002, alternating weekly sessions at the participating schools.

          For the first time, a high school from Kentucky joined the program, symbolically bridging the divide between North and South that existed at the time of the Underground Railroad. Six students, three freshmen, one sophomore, and two juniors, from Beechwood School in Northern Kentucky paired up with six freshmen from Cincinnati's Hughes Center, a three-year veteran of the program. Students selected topics ranging from runaway slave narratives and abolitionists to musical influences and Juneteenth celebrations. Other program activities included an opening team-building weekend at NKU, a field trip to Augusta and Maysville, Kentucky, to tour Underground Railroad sites, several guest speakers, and NKU library visits.

[Proceed]