GSBC General Meeting
Monday, 23 September 2019, 7pm
Ridgewood Public Library Auditorium

Alvin Q. Corbett

New Jersey was a Gateway to Freedom: Its role in the Underground Railroad

Curious about the New Jersey’s role in the abolitionist movement and how the trail of safe houses and routes ferrying slaves from the southern states to freedom in the north worked? Alvin Corbett will provide an overview of this extensive network that eventually became known as the "Underground Railroad."

Alvin Q. Corbett, who was born and raised in Wilson, North Carolina, is a historian, educator and lecturer. Corbett holds a bachelor's degree from North Carolina A&T State University and a master's from Stevens Institute of Technology. He served as Vice President of Board of Directors for the Underground Railroad Museum of Burlington County, NJ (2014-2017); has been invited to be a visiting scholar at New Jersey's Rutgers University; is an active member of the Salem and Camden County, NJ Historical Societies; and is a friend of the Peter Mott Underground Railroad Museum of Lawnside, NJ. Corbett also served as Assistant Curator for the Mattye Reed African-American Heritage Museum on the campus of North Carolina Agricultural & Technical (A&T) State University in Greensboro, NC. In 1984, Corbett became one of the first museum digital archivist in the country.

Corbett created, "Jack Sherrod LIVES!" which is an educational art experience showcasing Jack Sherrod's evolution from a slave, to a Civil War Union soldier, and ultimately, a free landowner in Wayne County, North Carolina. Sherrod descendant, Alvin Corbett, created Jack Sherrod LIVES! to engage the community in African-American history; to honor and preserve Sherrod family heritage; and to share the extraordinary life and legacy of his great-great-grandfather, Jack Sherrod.

Corbett also served as a speaker at Rutgers University's Global Timbuctoo Symposium on the topic of the Logistics of the Underground Railroad.

Free and open to the public—all are welcome!