The Underground and Overground Railroad with Dr. Tamika Sanders

Using storytelling, historical artifacts and songs, this presentation will depict the ingenuity and resiliency used by those involved in the Underground Railroad to help over 100,000 enslaved people escape to freedom between 1810 and 1850. We’ll then fast forward to the Jim Crow era and explore the Overground Railroad created by the Green Book which helped foster a network of safe spaces that allowed Blacks to travel, live and work despite illegal and legally sanctioned discrimination through Jim Crow laws.

This program is cohosted by Tempe Public Library. This is an in-person event.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER:

Dr. Sanders’ work revolves around bringing a diversity of real-world perspectives into programming initiatives and creating strategic community partnerships that can generate revenue and provide access to resources and opportunities for marginalized groups. In 2009, Dr. Sanders started her company Savvy Pen to provide interactive programs that incorporate arts learning and multicultural training to bridge cultural and socioeconomic divides between educators and their students. She is also a producing collaborating partner of the Bi-National Arts Residency (BNAR), which connects cultural communities in the Sonoran Desert together with issues of social justice and identity through art. Dr. Sanders hopes to continue using the arts to break barriers, unite people, and create social change.