SHOWS FOR YOUNGSTERS AND THEIR PARENTS TOO : ‘Underground Railroad’ actor takes the road of his great-grandparents

Race to Freedom: The Underground Railroad has special meaning for one of its stars, Courtney Vance.

The movie, executive produced by actor Tim Reid and Seaton McLean and airing on the Family Channel and BET, mirrors a chapter in Vance’s own ancestry.

“My great-grandfather, (a slave), killed a white man who had been repeatedly raping my great-grandmother,” says Vance. “So his family and friends immediately put him on the Underground Railroad, to get him north.” Vance’s great-grandfather ended up in Alberta, Canada. His great-grandmother and his grandfather, then a boy, met up with him in Canada.

In “Race to Freedom,” Thomas--Vance’s character--flees the plantation where he is enslaved and also heads to Canada with his common-law wife.

“Even though many slaves escaped north, the political situation allowed bounty hunters to get them and return them to the slave owners,” says Vance. “So slaves had to make sure they went as far north as they could.” Vance’s own relatives eventually returned to the United States and settled in Minnesota.

“All my great-grandparents wanted, and all my character Thomas wants, is to have the freedom to have dreams and a family, to read and to walk on their own land,” Vance says. “This movie tells that story.”

Included in the film is a depiction of the ad-hoc network of blacks and whites who acted as”conductors” of the Underground Railroad. They either led the way or offered aid to travelers. A single candle burning in the window of a house signified a station.

“It was a difficult time, gaining one’s freedom,” says Vance. “You never knew who was going to be a friend and despite the trials and tribulations of running, you could still be dragged back. We show that it wasn’t just Harriet Tubman or the Black Freedom Fighters who were running the Underground Railroad, but a great number of white people helped throughout the routes and the ‘stations’ they had to go through.”

Vance believes that the film will show children and teen-agers the great lengths to which slaves had to go to gain their freedom. “Slavery disregarded the family bond, but this film shows how the Underground worked to reunite families.”

“Race to Freedom” is a hopeful movie, points out Vance. “I think it’s the triumph of the spirit, the triumph of love, and trying to right a moral wrong. It’s a triumph of the will. You see people who are saying, ‘We will be free,’ and you see their story and their strength.”

“Race to Freedom: The Underground Railroad” premieres Saturday at 8 p.m. on the Family Channel and BET. For ages 6 and up.

More Family Shows

Don’t think romance, and related events, won’t be celebrated all over the tube in honor of Valentine’s Day. The Adventures of Pete and Pete: The Valentine’s Day Massacre (Sunday 12:30-1 p.m. and 6-6:30 p.m. Nickelodeon), Be My Valentine Charlie Brown (Monday 6-6:30 p.m. Disney ), From Disney With Love (Monday 1-2:30 p.m. Disney), A Special Valentine With the Family Circus (Monday noon-12:30 p.m. Disney) and The Muppets Valentine Show (Monday 7:30-8 p.m. Nickelodeon). For ages 2 and up.