ARCHER ALEXANDER

ARCHER ALEXANDER AND THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD

The program Archer Alexander and the Underground Railroad shares Missouri’s conflict with slavery, telling this true story, using actual maps, photos and documents. Statehood would raise the issue of slavery in 1821 to a national level with the Missouri Compromise, but the 1850 Fugitive Laws, would bring the nation even closer to the brink. During the Civil War, Archer Alexander risked everything when he supplied information about his Confederate enslaver to the Union Troops. Fleeing by the Underground Railroad and taking sixteen other freedom seekers with him, he found refuge then freedom, in the home of William G. Eliot in St. Louis. Eliot was a member of the Western Sanitary Commission that also assisted the enslaved in erecting the Emancipation Memorial in Washington D.C., with Lincoln, where Archer Alexander portrays the enslaved man who had broken his own chains, which was dedicated in 1876. Eliot was Archer Alexander’s first biographer, and Dorris Keeven-Franke brings him to life for today’s audience while explaining how Missouri’s enslaved resisted enslavement and the forces that assisted them. This program helps all audiences of all ages understand the complexities and life of those enslaved who used the Network to Freedom known as the Underground Railroad.

The Archer Alexander and the Underground Railroad in St. Lous, Missouri is among 31 new listings added by the National Park Service to the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom Program. The new listings join more than 800 sites, facilities and programs already in the network that provide insight into the diverse experiences of freedom seekers who bravely escaped slavery and allies who assisted them.  

Dorris Keeven Franke presents Archer Alexander’s life story as a freedom seeker that escaped with sixteen other freedom seekers, supplied information to the Union Troops about his enslaver, and how William G. Eliot in St. Louis helped Archer find refuge and eventual freedom.

Created by Congress in 1998, the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom serves to honor, preserve, and promote the history of resistance to enslavement through escape and flight, which continues to inspire people worldwide. It includes listings in 41 states, plus Washington, D.C., Canada, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Through its mission, the network advances the idea that all humans should have the rights to self-determination and freedom from oppression. 

Archer Alexander is the enslaved man who resisted enslavement and broke his own chains and who is seen rising with President Lincoln on the Emancipation Memorial in Lincoln Park in Washington, D.C.

ARCHER ALEXANDER AND THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD is a program by Dorris Keeven Franke listed on the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom. To discuss bringing this Program to your community, use the Contact Form below.

SPEAKER: DORRIS KEEVEN-FRANKE is a member of the Missouri Speakers Bureau sponsored by the Missouri Humanities Council, State Historical Society of Missouri and may be eligible for the costs to be underwritten in some Missouri Counties. For more information about how you can bring this program to your school, church, or community use the contact form above.