Lathrop House site has historic value

As an experienced and respected advanced placement United States history and government teacher, I strongly support keeping the Lathrop-Vogt House on its original site in Sylvania because as a station on the Underground Railroad it has local and national historic significance.

The runaway slaves who traveled the Underground Railroad are the proof of Thomas Jefferson’s words from the Declaration of Independence: "... That all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness ..."

Think about these men and women enslaved in the southern states who endured unbelievable physical punishments, lived through the unbearable separation from their family members, and were unjustly denied any education.

Yet from deep within their very human souls, they knew that they and their children should not be slaves, that life should be better. Their courageous journeys to freedom from the South through Ohio to Canada gave them a chance for life and liberty and the opportunity to pursue happiness. These American heroes should be remembered because they stood for the core of our American ideals.

The northern and southern abolitionists who aided the fugitives also understood Jefferson’s words. Think about these men and women, such as Miles and Julia Lathrop, who risked their lives and freedom to help victims of injustice. They knew that those sacred words applied not only to free white men, but also to those generations of men and women who suffered the indignity and cruelty of slavery.

The abolitionists acted upon their beliefs and challenged Americans of the 1840s and 1850s to confront the evils of slavery. These heroes should be remembered.

JACQUELINE KORALEWSKI KONWINSKI
Sylvania