Historian Judith Wellman's local research uncovered extraordinary stories about ordinary people in Niagara Falls.  Mostly former slaves, they risked themselves to help other freedom seekers. We put their stories in the foreground, emphasizing the places nearby where freedom seekers found help and crossed the river to Canada.  For context we describe tourism in 19th-century Niagara and the legal history of enslavement in North America.  The exhibit ends with  stories from contemporary local people who have sought freedom.