Historical Freedom Ride and Celebration on May 21
Come out to the Mary Meachum Freedom Crossing site on May 21 and experience living history. The site, located at 28 E. Grand Ave., St. Louis, MO 63147, is Missouri’s first nationally recognized Underground Railroad site. From 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, May 21, the Mary Meachum Freedom Crossing site will play host to a FREE group bike ride and festival, complete with a reenactment.
The 9-mile Freedom Ride will take cyclists on a tour of sites that played a significant role in shaping the African-American heritage of our nation. Helmet fittings and free helmets will also be available for the first 50 youth in need.
The ride returns in time for the reenactment of an 1855 slave freedom crossing, which retraces the May 21, 1855 daring escape attempt by a group of nine enslaved African-Americans, guided by Mary Meachum, a free woman of color and widow of John Berry Meachum, known nationally for liberating slaves. The reenactment will be complete with costumed participants traveling in secret compartments on wagons to the staging point and a pursuing posse on horseback.
Registration for the bike ride will be held from 10:30 – 11:00 a.m., and the group ride will depart at 11:00 a.m. The Mary Meachum Freedom Crossing Celebration event will be held from noon to 4 p.m., with the reenactment taking place at 2 p.m.
The event is sponsored by Grace Hill Settlement House in partnership with Great Rivers Greenway, The Confluence Partnership and St. Louis County Health Department.
To learn more about the Mary Meachum Freedom Crossing, call Doug Eller at 314-584-6703.
