What happened when Kentucky slave owners tried to retrieve runaway slaves that had made it to Vandalia in 1847? Dr. Veta Tucker will answer that question during her program The Kentucky Raid of 1847 at the Dowagiac Area History Museum at 6:30 p.m. Nov. 2.
The Kentucky Raid remains one of the most significant events in Cass County history and it had a significant impact on national law. The Quakers in the Vandalia area were active participants in the Underground Railroad and in 1847 allowed some freedom seekers to stay in cabins on their property. This led to the Kentucky Raid and laid the groundwork for the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850.
Tucker holds a doctor of arts degree in English language and literature from the University of Michigan. Before her retirement from Grand Valley State University, she

directed the office of local history in the Brooks College of interdisciplinary studies and taught American and African American literature and women and gender studies there since 1995.
Tucker also served as coordinator of Grand Valley’s African/African American studies program from 1997-2003. As coordinator, she developed courses on the History of the Underground Railroad, black women’s history, and history of the 20th century civil rights movement.
She is the author of two books on the Underground Railroad in Michigan, “The 1847 Kentucky Raid” and “A Fluid Frontier: Slavery, Resistance and the Underground Railroad in the Detroit River Borderland.”
Museum director Steve Arseneau concludes the Fall Lecture Series Dec. 7 with “Dowagiac During World War II.”
The programs are free to museum members and costs $5 to non-members. Children under 18 years of age are also free. Membership will be available at the museum for those interested.
The museum is located at the corner of Division and West Railroad streets. For more information, call the Dowagiac Area History Museum at (269) 783-2560 or visit www.dowagiacmuseum.info.