The Milton House, Wisconsin's Underground Railroad site

MILTON, Wis. -- In honor of Black History Month, Fox 47 will be highlighting Black history in Wisconsin throughout the month.

The Milton House in Milton is the only remaining Underground Railroad Station in Wisconsin.

Keighton Klos, the Milton House Museum's executive director, said, "A lot of times, when people come here and they realize it's an Underground Railroad site, they go, 'In Wisconsin? Aren’t we too far north?'"

The Milton House is the only tourable Underground Railroad site in Wisconsin. The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 allowed the federal government to capture runaway slaves, even in free states.

Freedom seekers would arrive in wagons, hidden under goods, before entering.

"If you’re in a wagon and someone pulls up in a cabin and says, "Okay, just go inside, jump in this deep, dark hole, there will be a tunnel, and on the other side, someone's going to help you," Klos said.

The signs advertise people for sale. The complete lack of humanity is a lot to take in, especially for the first Black legislator from Dane County.

"Even going into the tunnel, going through the tunnel, going into the cabin, feeling the weather (and) climate, and saying, in the winter time, what was it like for my ancestors?" Rep. Shelia Stubbs, D-Madison, said.

Most underground railroads weren’t actually underground and were run by one or two people, secretly. Not in Milton. The whole community helped.

Stubbs believes that learning American history is the only way to ensure that we continue on the path to justice.

"With this being the first day of Black History Month, choosing to be here at a National Historic Site, right here in Wisconsin, and being the first African American elected to the state legislature from Dane County, breaking 170 years of history, I am a history maker, and I want to meet the history in the state of Wisconsin," Stubbs said.

To learn more about the Milton House, click or tap here.