>> Cathy: REGULAR IEWERS OF "ALMANAC" MAY REMEMBER ST.

CLOUD STATE PROFESSOR CHRISTOPHER LEHMAN WHO WROTE THE BOOK ON THE ONLY ENSLAVED PERSON TO FIGHT FOR AND WIN HER FREEDOM IN MINNESOTA.

ELIZA WINSTON.

PROFESSOR LEHMAN ALSO CO-CURATED AN XHIBIT ABOUT WIN STONE, ON DISPLAY RIGHT NOW AT THE HENNEPIN HISTORY MUSEUM IN MINNEAPOLIS.

PRODUCING TEAM DAVID LEIN AND ALAUNA YUST WENT TO CHECK IT OUT.

>> NO PHOTOS OF ELIZA INSTON SURVIVE, SO HENNEPIN HISTORY MUSEUM COMMISSIONED LOCAL ARTIST CHRISTOPHER AARON DEANS TO IMAGINE WHAT SHE MAY HAVE LOOKED LIKE.

ELIZA WAS BROUGHT HERE IN 1860 BY THE CHRISTMAS FAMILY, SOUTHERN SLAVEOWNERS.

TWO YEARS BEFORE STATEHOOD BETWEEN THE DRED SCOTT DECISION AND THE CIVIL WAR.

>> MINNESOTA WAS A TERRITORY AND THE LAW OF THE LAND WAS REGARDLESS OF MISSOURI COMPROMISE OR OTHER THINGS IN A TERRITORY, SLAVERY IS ALLOWED.

SO THERE HAD BEEN NINE YEARS OF PEOPLE SAYING I GUESS THIS IS THE LAW OF THE LAND.

>> ALTHOUGH MINNESOTA'S CONSTITUTION BANNED SLAVERY MANY ENSLAVED PEOPLE WERE BROUGHT HERE BY THEIR OWNERS WHO ALSO BROUGHT VALUABLE TOURISM DOLLARS.

HENNEPIN COUNTY SHERIFF RICHARD STOUT LOOKED THE OTHER WAY.

>> WE WERE SO EXCITED AT HENNEPIN HISTORY MUSEUM TO JOIN WITH PROFESSOR LEHMAN ON THIS STORYTELLING BECAUSE THEY THOUGHT WE HAD OBJECTS THAT REALLY ILLUSTRATED THE TOPIC IN WAYS THAT COULDN'T COME OUT IN A BOOK AS IT WAS.

ONE WAS THE ANGEL GABRIEL WHICH IS THE WEATHER VANE ON TOP OF THE WINSLOW HOUSE WHICH BECAME AN ICONIC FIGURE IN MINNEAPOLIS' EARLY HISTORY AND IT'S BEEN IN OUR COLLECTION FOR MANY DECADES NOW.

SO THE WINS LOW HOUSE IS WHERE THE CHRISTMAS FAMILY BROUGHT ELIZA WITH THEM IN JULY OF 1860, AND THIS WOULD HAVE BEEN STANDING AT THE TIME.

IT WAS STANDING OVER THE HOUSE WHEN ELIZA ARRIVED AT THE WINSLOW HOUSE.

>> SOME OF THESE STREETS HAVE CHANGED BUT MAIN STREET, SO THE ST.

ANTHONY THEATER WOULD BE HERE.

>> ALSO ON DISPLAY, A REPLICA OF THE HOTEL'S GUEST REGISTER, IMPORTANT TO ELIZA'S STORY.

>> WHEN THEY WERE CHECKING INTO THE HOTEL SHE DIDN'T EVEN HAVE A NAME, IT'S COLONEL CHRISTMAS, CR CHRISTMAS, WIFE, CHILD, AND NURSE.

AND SO WE'VE JUST STARTED O DELVE INTO CAN WE FIGURE OUT HOW MANY ENSLAVED PEOPLE STAYED AT THE WINSLOW HOUSE AND SO WE'VE DONE AN INITIAL SCAN TO SAY, ALL RIGHT, LOOKING AT THAT CODE IF IT'S AN OCCUPATION, IT'S MOST LIKELY AN ENSLAVED PERSON.

AT LEAST IF WE'RE COMING FROM A PLACE LIKE MISSISSIPPI.

>> AS PROFESSOR LEHMAN POINTS OUT IN HIS BOOK ELIZA NEVER BROKE THE LAW, ELIZA DETAILED THE LEVEL TO WHICH SHE OBEYED HER OWNERS EVEN WHEN ORDERED TO HIDE FROM ABOLITIONISTS.

>> MY MISTRESS WOULD SEND ME INTO THE WOODS AT THE BACK OF THE HOUSE.

I MINDED HER, BUT DID NOT GO VERY FAR, HOPING THEY WOULD FIND ME.

>> SHE WAS OBEDIENT AND PLANFUL, SAVED ONEY AND CLOTHING PREPARING FOR THE DAY SHE WOULD GAIN HER FREEDOM.

>> WAY BACK IN MEMPHIS SHE WOULD ANTICIPATING BEING FREE SOMETIME.

SHE WAS MARRIED TO A FREE BLACK MAN AND SHE WAS GOING TO BE FREE HERSELF AND SHE STARTED COLLECTING CLOTHING AND POSSESSIONS THAT SHE COULD CALL HER OWN.

AND SHE BROUGHT THIS WITH HER TO MISSISSIPPI WHEN SHE WAS SOLD DOWN TO MISSISSIPPI, AND SHE BROUGHT THIS WITH HER UP TO MINNESOTA WHEN SHE CAME WITH THE CHRISTMAS.

IT SHOWS HER PERSEVERANCE.

THIS WAS WHAT SHE WAS WORKING ON AS A MULTI-YEAR PROJECT.

I'M GOING TO MAKE THIS HAPPEN FOR MYSELF.

>> THE CALICO DRESS ON DISPLAY IS SIMILAR TO THE ONE ELIZA WORE TO THE COURTROOM BUT BEFORE THAT TRIAL COULD BEGIN SHE HAD TO ESCAPE.

AND FOR THAT SHE NEEDED HELP AND A PLAN.

>> SHE WAS TAKING SOME OF, SOME CLOTHING FROM HER OWNER TO EMILY GOODRICH GREY WHO WAS A LOCAL SEAMSTRESS, AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMAN WHO CAME FROM A LONG LINEAGE OF FREEDOM SEEKERS AND UNDERGROUND RAILROAD FOLKS.

THEY STARTED TALKING AND WE DON'T KNOW WHO SAID WHAT FIRST BUT EMILY SAID TO ELIZA, SO YOU WANT TO BE FREE, AND ELIZA SAID, YES, I WANT TO BE FREE.

AND THAT WAS REPEATED A COUPLE TIMES BECAUSE EMILY NEEDED TO KNOW THAT ELIZA WAS COMMITTED TO THIS BECAUSE IT WASN'T GOING TO BE EASY, IT HAD TO GO THROUGH.

>> IT'S STILL VERY MUCH THAT KIND OF UNDERGROUND RAILROAD EXPERIENCE WHERE SHE'S HIDING OUT, THERE'S FUGITIVES, ANGRY MOBS, THERE'S REAL PERIL.

>> EMILY AND ELIZA PLAN AN ESCAPE FOR A SUNDAY WHILE THE CHRISTMAS WENT TO CHURCH.

BUT THE FAMILY LEARNED OF THE PLAN AND HID ELIZA, SHERIFF STOUT EVENTUALLY GAVE INTO PRESSURE FROM THE ABOLITIONISTS AND INTERVENED.

THE CHRISTMAS ADMONISHED ELIZA TO STAY WITH THEM BUT HER DAYS OF ANSWERING HER ENSLAVERS WERE OVER.

>> MY MASTER ASKED ME IF I WOULD GO WITH HIM, NOT TO DO WRONG, I TOED HIM I WAS NOT GOING TO DO WRONG BUT I WOULD NOT GO WITH HIM.

YOU CAN JUST IMAGINE THE REACTION THAT GOT.

>> THE TRIAL WAS EXCEEDINGLY SHORT.

>> THE ATTORNEY FOR ELIZA STOOD UP AND SIMPLY READ THE ONE LINE IN THE ONSTITUTION THAT SAID SLAVERY SHALL NOT BE ALLOWED IN MINNESOTA AND THEN HE SAT DOWN.

>> THE PRO-SLAVERY SIDE HAS THEIR WHOLE LONG CASE AND THE OTHER ONE LITERALLY SAYS THERE SHALL NEITHER BE SLAVERY NOR INVOLUNTARY SERVITUDE IN THE STATE.

RESTS HIS CASE, BOOM, THAT'S THEIR WHOLE CASE.

>> MIC DROP INDEED.

IN THIS CASE GAVEL DROP FROM JUDGE CHARLES VANDERBERG, AN ABOLITIONIST WHO WOULD BE ELECTED TO THE MINNESOTA SUPREME COURT 120 YEARS LATER.

PAINTER DEANS IMAGINED ELIZA SEATED AT THE TABLE WITH A JUDGE SURROUNDED BY AB LISTICS.

WHEN THE JUDGE ASKED FOR HER NA