Alexander Clark Lecture Series: Josiah Bushnell and the Underground Railroad

Learn how one Iowa man contributed to the Underground Railroad with Muscatine Community College’s annual Alexander Clark Lecture Series.

This year’s free event will take place February 25 at 6 p.m. online via Zoom, and will tell the fascinating story of Josiah Bushnell Grinnell. You can easily join in on the lecture by visiting eicc.edu/alexanderclark during the designated day and time.

J.B. Grinnell and other residents of Grinnell, Iowa, were active members of the Underground Railroad, helping at least 37 fugitive slaves pass through their town before the Civil War. As history tell us though, not everyone supported his efforts.

Presenter David Connon will tell a story of racism, noble actions and conflict. He will highlight abolitionist John Brown’s visit to Grinnell, and Grinnell’s first riot over the presence of fugitive slaves in the public schools.

Connon spent nearly two decades researching dissenters in Iowa: Grinnell residents who helped on the Underground Railroad, and their polar opposites, Iowa Confederates. His research culminated in the book Iowa Confederates in the Civil War (Charleston: Fonthill Media/Arcadia Publishing, 2019).

Listed on the Humanities Iowa Speakers Bureau, Connon is the great-great-grandson of two Union veterans, a member of Sons of Union Veterans and of the Des Moines Civil War Round Table. He lives in Earlham.

The annual Alexander Clark Lecture Series is co-sponsored by the Alexander Clark Foundation, League of Women Voters of Muscatine County and Muscatine Community College.

For more information, contact Muscatine Community College at 563-288-6000. To access the zoom link, visit eicc.edu/alexanderclark