Video game teaches about Underground Railroad

Norview High School students were the first in the area to preview a draft of a new video game about the Underground Railroad - the secret network used by slaves to escape to freedom in the 1800s.

Students in Holly Tuten's Honors U.S. history class on Monday watched portions of the game on a big screen. Software incompatibility did not allow students to download and play the game.

Norfolk State University professor Cassandra Newby-Alexander hopes the demo will become an engaging companion to traditional classroom learning.

Newby-Alexander and a team of programmers, historians, musicians and writers developed the game with a $100,000 grant from the

National Endowment for the Humanities.

The project needs additional funding, likely "several millions of dollars," and two to three years of development to bring the final version of the game to fruition, Newby-Alexander said.

"Young people today are different kind of learners," she said. "They need more active participation. We're trying to see if gaming can be applied to educational learning."

Students watched snippets of the game, which highlights the life of George Latimer, a locally born slave who escaped to freedom aboard a steamship in 1842 using Norfolk's extensive Underground Railroad.

Sophomore Tyeisha Burrus, 16, said she found the game appealing but felt it needed better graphics.

"I think George Latimer's arms, head and legs should move to make it more interesting," she said. In the demo, only Latimer's mouth moved when he spoke.

Sophomore Anthony Williams, 16, said he wanted the game to offer intrigue, with the option of engaging allies, escaping from prison, fighting and turning the tables on Latimer's captors.

"Those are all great suggestions, and we will take them into consideration," Newby-Alexander said.

Students completed online pre- and post-game questionnaires to see how much they learned from the game.

Also at the preview were Joe Phelan and Shelley NiTuama from the National Endowment of the Humanities, who believe the game will be a valuable addition to the organization's EDSITEment web site, which provides free educational resources to teachers, home-schooling parents and after-school programs.

In the game, students take the role of Latimer and orchestrate his escape while learning facts about his life, the Underground Railroad in Norfolk, slavery and abolitionism.

"Any decisions students make that are wrong will cause them to lose points or even the game," Newby-Alexander said.

Players can ultimately be caught and imprisoned, killed, returned to slavery or escape to freedom.

"We're getting a lot closer to what I envisioned this would be about - in a way, making these people live again," Newby-Alexander said. "Right now we still have Hollywood educating people about history with stereotypes. Reality is far more complex than Hollywood."

Lia Russell, (757) 222-5829, lia.russell@pilotonline.com