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DOWAGIAC — Christopher Momany will continue the Spring Lecture Series at the Dowagiac Area History Museum at 6 p.m. Wednesday, April 3 with his presentation “The Big Ideas Behind Michigan’s Underground Railroad.”

As a border state with Canada, Michigan was a key state on the Underground Railroad in the decades before the Civil War. Abolitionists had settled in many areas of the state, including in Cass County’s Penn Township and Vandalia. The program will explore some of the Michigan abolitionists and what motivated them to participate in the Underground Railroad.

Christopher Momany, in addition to serving as the pastor at Dowagiac’s Methodist Church, is a noted author and presenter on the Underground Railroad and religion’s influence on those who participated.

He is active in “Historians Against Slavery” and the author of several books, including his most recent, Compelling Lives: Five Methodist Abolitionists and the Ideas that Inspired Them. He will be selling copies of some of his books and signing them after the program.

The May 1 lecture will feature Mollie Kruck Watson’s program on Niles native Ring Lardner, the noted author and humorist. Eileen Crouse will close out the series on June 5 with a preview of this year’s Dowagiac Historic Homes and Gardens Tours to be held on June 22.

All programs in the museum’s Lecture Series are free to museum members and $5 for non-members.

Children under 18 are admitted free. Membership will be available at the museum. The museum is at the corner of Division and West Railroad streets. For more information, call the museum at 783-2560 or visit www.dowagiacmuseum.info.