She isn't running away from anybody, but a 73-year-old Cleveland woman is walking across Ohio in a partial re-creation of an Underground Railroad flight to freedom.

Joan Southgate walks with her grandson Jeremy Southgate, 8, along U.S. 52 near Ripley. Jeremy is carrying a shackle provided by Jerry Gore, an African-American historian. (Gary Landers photos) | ZOOM |

        Joan Southgate, a former teacher and social worker, started her journey Tuesday at the historic John Rankin House, a recognized Underground Railroad layover station in Ripley.

        Her plan: to cover 10 miles a day for the next two months, concluding her journey back home in Cleveland about May 23.

        “For some reason or other, I've been thinking about slavery a lot for the past 12, 15 years,” she says. “Slavery was on my mind as I did my usual stay-healthy walk a year or so ago, and a question started singing pace to my footsteps:

        “What was it like, and how can I praise them (escaping ancestors)?

        “The answer fell into place just as I rounded the corner for home,” she recalls. “I am going to walk their path.”

        With help and support from her two daughters, two sons and seven grandchildren, she has organized, somewhat loosely, a trip of more than 300 miles.

        Staffers at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati helped with background information on routes and dozens of documented historic hiding spots along the way. Private citizens came forward with cash, supplies and housing.

        Teachers John and Stephanie Cooper will provide accommodations in their Silverton home tonight, Friday and Saturday.

Joan Southgate

        “It sounded like a great opportunity to extend our hospitality in the spirit of the Underground Railroad,” Mr. Cooper says. “I've always been fascinated by history (and) it's just neat to have a chance to do that.”

        Mr. Cooper is a junior high school mathematics teacher and a former history teacher.

        The Cooper house, he says, is not big.

        “We have an extra bed, a pullout couch and blow-up mattress,” he said. “They're staying at a state park ... before us. ... After that, I have the feeling a warm house with hot water will be plenty for them.”

        The Coopers said they expect about five people to be staying with them.

        Before she began her walk, Mrs. Southgate stayed — along with a son, two grandchildren and a friend from Germany, at the Ripley home of Lontina Shropshire.

        They stayed in the living room and dining room,” she said. “We all had cereal and juice and fruit for breakfast.

        “I think it's wonderful what she's doing.”

        Later, she told Mrs. Southgate, “If you ever make it back this way, you know where my door is.”

        The first leg of Mrs. Southgate's trip — from the Ohio River to the highly elevated Rankin house and museum — could have been the worst.

        But it wasn't.

        “I'm not doing that hill,” she said, as her entourage began to trudge the rough flagstones through trees and brush.

        Mrs. Southgate said each of her children — from New York, Memphis, Atlanta and Cleveland — has arranged to be with her for a segment of the walk route, which passes through Cincinnati, Yellow Springs, Columbus, Oberlin and other towns along the way.

        She plans to walk three or four times each day, “... starting with an hour and a half or two hours before breakfast.”

        In Cincinnati, she'll visit the Harriet Beecher Stowe House, in Walnut Hills, once inhabited by the writer of Uncle Tom's Cabin.

        For the past year, Mrs. Southgate says, she has been volunteering in elementary schools, speaking frequently about the Underground Railroad and the people who used it and ran it.

        “I talk about the people,” she says, “with the most emphasis on the fact that it was a time in history when blacks and whites and Native Americans were all working together.”

        And she points out that children were part of the effort.

        “There were children of the families running away and children in the families helping to get those people to safety,” she says. “Some of the children were the same age as the third- and fourth-graders I talk to.

        “I tell them how they (escaping children) had to hide out, move quietly and be quiet. ... You can see their eyes get real big.

        “I wear a stopwatch around my neck and ask them, "How long do you think you could be quiet?' ”

TO GET INVOLVED

The Rankin House was the home of John Rankin, a Presbyterian minister who lived there from 1828 to 1863 and helped more than 2,000 slaves escape. The house remains intact, on a hill overlooking the Ohio River, about 50 miles east of Cincinnati.     To learn more about Joan Southgate and her Underground Railroad walk and how you can contribute or participate, go to www.intheirpath.20fr.com or write her at P.O. Box 1958, Cleveland, Ohio, 44106, or call (216) 761-8416 or (937) 392-4188.

        Jerry Gore, African-American history researcher and retired director of minority affairs at Morehead State University, Morehead, Ky., offered insight as Mrs. Southgate and parts of her family sat thoughtfully on the south side of the Rankin house, enjoying the view of the Ohio River and Kentucky.

        “They called it the chilly Jordan,” he said. “On that side (Kentucky) called slavery; on this side, called freedom.”

        He brought shackles for the walkers to carry as a reminder of the times.

        On the way to the walk starting point in a photographer's car, he inspired Mrs. Southgate with song.

        “Lord I want Jesus to walk with me,” he prayed in bass, rich and loud.

        Mrs. Southgate, who walks regularly for 30 minutes two or three times a week, says she “started seriously building my times” in February 2001. For strength training, she uses ankle weights and 8-pound dumbbells.

        “People tell me I need to get a budget, that money is going to be a problem,” she says.

        “Well, I just wanted to do it simply. I've lived without much money all my life, and I've lived happily without it.

        “Money is coming in ($2,000 so far) from just ordinary people who know me or heard about it and like the idea.”

        The Coopers said they learned about Mrs. Southgate through a Cleveland relative who sells books to her.

        Depending on their schedules, they said, they might walk along with her.

        Mrs. Southgate said she would welcome area residents who want to accompany her for segments of the walk.

        “I'm really excited to meet her,” Mr. Cooper says.

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