Freedom Park lies on South Biscoe Street in Helena, on the site of a Civil War contraband camp. When Union General Samuel R. Curtis's army reached Helena in the summer of 1862, more than 2,000 people who had escaped slavery came with it, and in May 1863 Levi Coffin reported 3,600 in the town. Many lived in churches, houses and tents. Men built Fort Curtis and the earthworks, women cooked and washed for the army, and the pay was poor and the work supervised by white people.
The camps were also where Black soldiers were recruited. The first of six Black Arkansas volunteer regiments was organized at Helena beginning in April 1863, and more than 5,500 Black Arkansans served the Union in all. The camps were not safe. Soon after Coffin's visit, Confederates attacked nearby camps, Camp Deliverance, Camp Wood and Camp Colony, and the Encyclopedia of Arkansas says many Black people died in the burning cabins where they were housed.
The Delta Cultural Center runs the park, and the National Park Service has made it a site on the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom. Five exhibits, with life-size figures, a plantation house, a refugee dwelling and an earthwork, follow the experience of those who reached Helena. The visit is outdoors and self-guided, and guided tours can be requested through the Delta Cultural Center.
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