On September 8, 2023, SIU Press author Larry A McClellan published his new book Onward to Chicago: Freedom Seekers and the Underground Railroad in Northeastern Illinois. The book has earned significant attention for the unique angle it takes on approaching the stories of former slaves who escaped to freedom through the Underground Railroad systems near Illinois.
Dr. McClellan said on SIU Press's Inside the Blanket Fort Podcast, "What I am seeking to do is to reframe the great American story of the Underground Railroad... so that people understand that the real hearts of (it) are the freedom seekers- the people that found the means to escape their enslavement in the South and headed in all kinds of directions."
The book earned this year's Underground Railroad Free Press Hortense Simmons Memorial Prize for the Advancement of Knowledge award. It also was recognized in London's Financial Times, the Chicago Tribune, the South Bend Tribune, the BBC Travel Show, and more.
