NATCHEZ &045;&045; A three-day seminar exploring slaves’ fights for freedom will spotlight the storied Forks of the Road site in Natchez, a marketplace second only to one near New Orleans in slave sales in the early to middle 19th century.

Ser Seshs Ab Heter-C.M. Boxley, a Natchez slavery historian who has spearheaded efforts to establish a museum at Forks of the Road, said the Baton Rouge conference, scheduled for Nov. 6-8 at the Marriott Hotel, will give Forks of the Road and Natchez national and even international exposure.

&uot;Since April, Friends of the Forks of the Road have been the lead planners of the event,&uot; Boxley said.

He added the impetus for the gathering comes from Barbara Tagger of the National Park Service, who coordinates the Underground Railroad Network to Freedom Program in the southeast region of the United States.

With the title, &uot;Bound for Glory on the Bayou,&uot; the program will bring together individuals, organizations and scholars interested in the history of slavery and struggles for freedom by slaves in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Tennessee.

&uot;The intention is, first, to have local Natchez people attend. We want to bring out local stories about the struggles for freedom,&uot; Boxley said.

The conference will focus on four themes: runaway slaves, marooned slave communities, contraband camps and the inspiring story of the Rev. William King and the Jackson, La., slaves who in 1849 founded the Canadian town of Buxton.

Boxley will present a program on slave escapes along the Mississippi River from Memphis to the Gulf of Mexico.

&uot;We can do runaways well,&uot; he said. &uot;The newspapers up and down the river are full of ads about runaways.&uot;

Marooned communities are not as well documented above Baton Rouge as they are further south on the river, he said. On contraband, &uot;we’ll have wonderful stories to present,&uot; he said.

Thomas Rosenblum, National Park Service historian at the Natchez National Historical Park at Melrose, will be the keynote speaker at the conference.

His presentation will provide details he has gathered while researching the Forks of the Road site, including information about two traders who were among the most active in slave marketing in the country at that time.

&uot;One thing we’ll never know is how many enslaved people came through those gates,&uot; Rosenblum said.

Getting people to understand what the Underground Railroad Network to Freedom is all about is a big objective of the meeting in Baton Rouge, Boxley said.

&uot;The Underground Railroad network has been broadened to include almost any resistance to slavery,&uot; he said.

It is important to have Natchez-area people attend the meeting, not only to give them an opportunity to hear the presentations but also a chance to tell stories they know, Boxley said.

Planners chose Baton Rouge as the meeting site because of its airport and its proximity to Jackson, La., where the group will go for a living history demonstration; and Port Hudson, another destination during the living history excursion. &uot;And this gives us an opportunity to showcase the Forks of the Road to a national audience,&uot; Boxley said.

Other sponsors of the conference include the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the River Road African American Museum & Gallery.

In addition to lectures and the living history excursion, the event will include special exhibits on site.