Michael Ealy reads J.W. Loguen, Letter to Mrs. Sarah Logue (March 28, 1860). Introduced by Dave Zirin.

Dave Zirin introduces actor Michael Ealy as he reads from a letter written by a former slave who became an abolitionist activist and a leader on the Underground Railroad.

Freed slaves and fugitive slaves played a vital role in building the Underground Railroad and organizing for abolition. As slaves began to tell their stories, some wrote private, or in some cases public, letters to their former owners, defying their attempt to return them to slavery. Here is one such letter, from Jermain Wesley Loguen, who was pivotal to the underground railroad in Syracuse, writing in reply to Mrs. Sarah Logue, his former owner.

This performance took place at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., as part of the Voices of a People's History show at the Hip-Hop Theater Festival, on July 7, 2009. Visit peopleshistory.us for more information. And find us on Facebook at Facebook.com/VoicesofaPeoplesHistory or on Twitter @VPH.