Imagine being an African slave forced on the horrific “middle passage” across the Atlantic to the USA. Imagine being shackled below deck for days without food or water. Imagine once you’ve arrived in the USA being sold and separated from your loved ones - forever. Imagine after years of slavery having the courage to escape from your cruel master. Imagine finally finding safe refuge in the basement of one of the houses along a secret “Underground Railroad” system. Imagine the fear as you hide in the cramped, damp basement waiting for your opportunity to make your dash for freedom....
These are just some of the many emotional experiences you will hear about at the Slave Haven Underground Railroad Museum in Memphis. Set two blocks away from the Mississippi River in a quiet leafy suburb, Slave Haven is the modest, antebellum home of heroic German immigrant Jacob Burkle.
As part of the anti-slavery movement, Jacob risked his own life for years when he used his home to hide countless terrified slaves as part of the “Underground Railroad” escape route, a desperate and dangerous flight from the oppression of the South.