The Film: Interview Transcripts: John Ford

John Ford, historian and school programs director, Sen. John Heinz Pittsburgh Regional History Center, on communication within the African-American community

African Americans have a tradition of expressing themselves through the spoken word that goes back for hundreds, thousands, and we now know, millions, of years.  So consequently, during the time of the Underground Railroad, word traveled fast in the African-American community.  You might have an aunt in Indiana, Pennsylvania, or a brother in Mercer or Meadville, Pennsylvania, and family members on the plantation.  As you made your exodus you would leave behind information that would be of vital assistance to other Africans who might take the same path that you would take.

Martin Delaney and
Charles Avery

Pittsburgh’s black population

dialogue between the races

proving Vasco da Gama wrong

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