Illinois

Preserving history: Local group works to elevate stories of freedom seekers

Published

4 months ago

February 24, 2026

Preserving history: Local group works to elevate stories of freedom seekers

A group of historians and educators is working to identify, preserve, and share the stories of freedom seekers who traveled through the Underground Railroad in Illinois.

The project comes amid efforts to erase or water down Black history, including recent actions by the National Park Service under the Trump administration. Last month, the National Park Service removed an exhibit in Philadelphia about nine people enslaved by George Washington. A federal judge ordered the exhibit to be restored. The Trump administration has appealed that ruling. In September, a photo showing an enslaved man’s scarred back from whippings was removed from a national monument in Georgia.

Members of the “Illinois Network to Freedom Collective” are focused on bringing attention to the stories of freedom seekers and sites connected to the Underground Railroad in Illinois.

According to the National Park Service, there are 28 recognized “Network to Freedom” sites in the state, including Graceland Cemetery and the Ton Farm site in Chicago.

Abdul Alkalimat, a member of the collective, said, “We found at least 429 places in Illinois that were directly connected to the Underground Railroad.”

The group is working to uncover and document these locations by analyzing written records, church documents, census data, and oral histories.

“We think the real story is the freedom seekers, the people who were daring enough to escape from slavery,” said Alkalimat.

Eric Krupa, curator and archivist at the St. Charles History Museum, recently helped add the Joseph Bartlett Farm in Kane County to the National Park Service’s list of recognized safehouses.

“This site is actually where Celia and Eliza were taken to,” said Krupa, referring to two freedom seekers whose journey passed through the area.

Krupa said there is evidence connecting another home in St. Charles to the same story, and he is working to get that home nationally recognized as well.

Larry McClellan, a historian with the collective, explained the challenges of researching this history.

“So, to begin with, this (the underground railroad) is all illegal, so what we have to do is find all kinds of ways to get into the information, and so we end up with family records, with church records, with census records,” said McClellan.

Alkalimat added, “There’s a lot of oral history. There’s a lot of family documentation.”

The collective’s work is not only about research, but also about public education.

“It’s getting the resources, the imagery, the narratives, the stories, those things that help students and teachers come alive in classrooms that bring those feelings up in classrooms,” said Asif Wilson, an educator and member of the group.

McClellan said, “There are efforts going on around the state, and having the commission will help us pull those efforts together in terms of developing curriculum, developing standards and guidelines.”

The group hopes that by teaching this history, they can inspire progress in the ongoing fight for civil rights.

“The Underground Railroad is an important aspect of the past, but we have to embrace the legacy of the freedom seekers all the way through the current time we live in today,” said Alkalimat, “Since we’ve arrived here, we’ve always found ways to build new home, place, to build new lives, to resist that oppression, and I hope to bring those legacies and those memories to folks who might not have them because we exist in a time and place right now where it seems like the world is literally on fire,” said Wilson, “We really need these moments to reconcile the past and what the past might mean for the future.”

The collective came together about a year ago, but Historians Glennette Turner and Larry McClellan have been doing this work for decades. They say the new collaborative project gives them hope.

“Part of why we’re so excited about the new collaborative is really completing the work that we started so long ago,” said McClellan.

Turner said, “I’m 92 years old, and I knew I wouldn’t live forever and just, you know, be able to continue this. It’s just so encouraging. It just means everything is going to be in good hands going forward.”

Last summer, Illinois passed the “Illinois Freedom Trails Commission Act,” which aims to explore, research, and commemorate the journeys of freedom seekers. Several members of the collective helped draft the legislation and are now working with the state. The official commission has yet to be announced and will be appointed by the governor.

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Illinois

Illinois Tollway proposing increased tolls in 2027 to fund $26.5 billion in road construction

Published

19 minutes ago

June 20, 2026

Press Room

Illinois Tollway proposing increased tolls in 2027 to fund .5 billion in road construction

Illinois drivers might soon have to pay more to drive on the state’s tollways.

The Illinois State Toll Highway Authority has proposed an increase in tolls in 2027. If approved by the board, it would be the state’s first toll hike since 2012.

Anyone who drives in the Chicago area likely jumps on one of the Illinois tollways at some point.

“I try to avoid them, you know what I mean? But if I’ve got to get somewhere, and it’s like 10 minutes quicker, I’ll just take the toll,” said Shomari Dyson.

But that toll could cost Dyson and thousands of drivers who take it an average of 45 cents more per toll for passenger vehicles and 30% more per toll for commercial vehicles starting Jan. 1, 2027, if the Illinois tollway board approves the proposed toll hike, and those paying the tolls aren’t happy

“It’s ridiculous. I’m constantly getting tolls, charges, refills on my bank account when my iPass goes through. So, I can imagine it’s just going to happen more and more often,” Jon Jackson said.

Currently, tolls run as low as 30 cents and as high as $1.50 at various toll plazas.

This proposed hike could place the average toll well over a $1 every time drivers pass through an automatic toll plaza.

“I like to know where my money is going, and then [Interstate] 294 has been under construction for the last 15 years, and that is frustrating,” Frank Faso said.

The tollway said the hike is needed to handle projected repairs for road widening, bridge repair, and new technology. It’s all tied to a 15-year capital improvement program estimated to cost $26.5 billion.

The tollway board also wants automatic inflation-based increases every two years starting in 2029.

“We pay our taxes, man, you know what I’m saying? So all that extra, it’s nonsense,” Dyson said.

“If we’re going to void and not take part in things like the World Cup and Soldier Field that’s going to bring tax revenue to the state, they shouldn’t charge me for it,” Faso said.

The board must hold a dozen meetings in various counties to get the public’s take before voting on the toll hike. The first one kicks off in August, but drivers question if the public hearings are really about input.

“I think they’re just going to keep going through the motions,” Jackson said.

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Illinois

Illinois has already broken the record for number of tornadoes in a year — and it’s only June

Published

11 hours ago

June 19, 2026

Press Room

Illinois has already broken the record for number of tornadoes in a year — and it’s only June

Illinois has seen more tornadoes in 2026 than in any year on record.

Following several more tornadoes confirmed this week across the state, Illinois has recorded 143 tornadoes so far in 2026, beating the previous record of 142 tornadoes set in 2024. With reliable records dating back to 1950, Illinois averages just 54 tornadoes per year. But in recent years, the state has experienced many more:

2023: 121
2024: 142
2025: 126
2026: 143 and counting

Unlike 2024, when a record two-day tornado outbreak accounted for a large share of the year’s tornadoes, the activity in 2026 has been spread out across several months.

On Thursday, June 11, a tornado outbreak brought at least 21 confirmed tornadoes to northern Illinois and northwest Indiana, 13 of them in Illinois. Two tornadoes that day — in Streator, Illinois, and Hebron, Indiana — reached rare EF-3 intensity, with winds over 135 miles per hour. Numerous injuries were reported from the storms, but there were no fatalities.

Confirmed tornadoes from June 11:

Long Point to Streator, IL: EF-3
Wenona/Osage Township, IL: EF-1
Graymont to Dwight, IL: EF-1
Lee, IL: EF-U
Harpster to Elliott, IL: EF-0
Pembroke Township (Leesville), IL: EF-U
St. John to Schererville, IN: EF-0
Paxton/Loda, IL: EF-1
Merrillville to Hobart, IN: EF-2
Ludlow, IL: EF-1
Cedar Lake, IN: EF-0
Schneider to Hebron, IN: EF-0
Watseka, IL: EF-0
Hebron to Kouts, IN: EF-3
Wellington/Prairie Green Township, IL: EF-1
Bartlett, IL: EF-1
Boswell to Atkinson, IN: EF-1
Ade to Mount Ayr, IN: EF-0
Naperville to Lisle, IL: EF-0
Hickory Hills to Garfield Ridge: EF-2
Morocco, IN: EF-0

Though most of the Chicago area dodged severe weather from storms this week, the National Weather Service confirmed a brief tornado touchdown Wednesday night in Lake County near Grayslake. The EF-0 tornado had estimated winds of 80 miles per hour and was on the ground for about a quarter-mile. Damage consisted of several downed or split trees and sporadic minor roof damage along a narrow corridor in the Saddlebrook Farms subdivision.

Four more tornadoes were confirmed Wednesday in western and central Illinois. NWS crews are still surveying damage in central Illinois, and more tornadoes may be added to the count in the coming days.

With 143 tornadoes so far this year, Illinois leads the nation in tornado count for the third time in the last four years — a remarkable statistic for a state not typically thought of as being in Tornado Alley.

The recent increase in tornado activity across Illinois and the Midwest fits research showing a shift in tornado-favorable environments away from parts of the traditional Plains Tornado Alley and farther east into the Midwest and South. Climate change is one likely factor, as warming temperatures are expected to make the Plains hotter and drier overall, shifting tornado ingredients eastward toward the Mississippi River.

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