Gwen McGregor

African-American History: Up from Underground
Mount Holyoke Alumnae Quarterly, Spring 2000

Gwendolyn McGregorThe past is still with us; it's just a matter of knowing where to look. As part of her research for the African -American Heritage Project, Gwendolyn McGregor FP'95 has looked far and discovered much. For example, she unearthed photos of the Springfield, Massachusetts, tunnel in which abolitionist John Brown is believed to have hidden fugitive slaves. Seeing this stop on the "underground railroad" profoundly moved her. And it reinforced the work she's done for the last four years to research, preserve and present African-American history.

Gwendolyn teaches art, humanities and social studies at Springfield Technical Community College and is coordinating supervisor for STCC's part of the project. Her academic training in art history at MHC and Vermont College was critical in the project's first public presentation. A 1997 art exhibition curated by Gwendolyn depicted African-American life during slavery. "There are a lot of things most people just don't know," she says. Seeing items like a slave's well-worn quilt or a sales receipt for the transfer of human "property" brought history home to viewers. "They've heard stories in school, but this made them know it really happened. Students black and white cut classes to see the exhibit. They were stunned at what they saw there; it was a turning point for lots of them."

Buoyed by the exhibit's success, Gwendolyn and project director Cecelia Gross expanded the project, which now also involves a half-dozen other organizations, including Old Sturbridge Village and the National Park Service. Besides doing her own research, Gwendolyn plans and directs the research of graduate and undergraduate students. In addition to viewing John Brown's tunnel, she visited an old Springfield hotel that hid fugitive slaves below the stairs on which wealthy white patrons walked. It's just one of many stops on an African-American history trail through Springfield created as part of the project.

Gwen's research stretches far beyond the Civil War era. "Right now we're interviewing Springfield residents about what life was like during World War 11, and we've recently finished research on blacks working at the Springfield Arsenal during World War I," Gwendolyn says. "This project is about all the ways blacks contributed to the growth of Springfield." Townspeople chosen for the oral history interviews "are pleased to be asked and they do talk! They'll go on and on about both positive and negative aspects of life here."

Because recollections can be faulty-and because narratives of slave times must now come second-hand-Gwendolyn - is careful to back up oral histories with paper records whenever possible. Of course, documenting the underground railroad poses special challenges, since participants tried to leave no record of their humanitarian (but illegal) acts. "I'm intrigued at the moment with finding and photographing stops on the underground railroad," Gwendolyn says. "I want to establish a 'foot path' tracing how slaves moved through the city."

She haunts libraries and archives, and crisscrosses the state whenever she gets wind of another site or story of possible historical interest. Wherever a scrap of African -American history still exists, Gwendolyn is determined to bring it up from underground.

-- Photograph by Paul Schnaittacher