Documentary from Bradley Alums Soon to Play in Peoria

August 4, 2025

“The Underground Railroad in Metamora,” a documentary film produced in part by two Bradley University alumni, is coming to Peoria! With three showings at the Peoria Riverfront Museum on August 14, 2025, the impact of their work continues to grow.

The movie, which premiered on June 22, at the Kenneth H. Maurer Performing Arts Center inside Metamora High School, is the brainchild of Levi Obery ’09. Thanks to a partnership with his nonprofit, Ten Thirty-One Pictures Foundation, and the Metamora Association for Historic Preservation, led by president Laure Adams ’85, ’90 GRD, the documentary shares stories from the height of freedom seekers’ movement through the area on their way to Canada.

“It is our hope that the film will preserve these stories for future generations and leave viewers with a better understanding of Metamora’s involvement in this very critical part of our country’s history,” Obery said.

In the wake of their successful premiere in Metamora filled with descendants of Underground Railroad conductors, both Obery and Adams hope historians and filmmakers from other towns along the paths of freedom seekers will follow their lead.

“I hope this production provides a template for other communities to research and tell their Underground Railroad story,” Adams said.

The full story about the filmmaker and the documentary will be available in the next issue of Bradley magazine.

—Jenevieve Rowley-Davis