Col. Nathaniel Ford, left, and his wife, Lucinda, brought a slave family to Oregon from Missouri along the Oregon Trail in 1844. Ford later served five terms in Oregon's Territorial Legislature.

Astoria — Lewis and Clark National Historical Park, Fort Clatsop announces the start of its free autumn 2015 speaker series In Their Footsteps. The first program in this monthly series will be “Slavery at the End of the Oregon Trail” presented by R. Gregory Nokes at 1 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 20.

Nokes’ presentation is based on his recent award-winning book, “Breaking Chains: Slavery on Trial in the Oregon Territory,” which tells the story of Robin and Polly Holmes and their family, brought to Oregon as slaves from Missouri in 1844.

In a remarkable act of courage for a former slave, Holmes filed suit in 1852 to win freedom for his children from their owner, Nathanial Ford, a five-term member of Oregon’s Territorial Legislature. The case, Holmes v. Ford, was the only slavery case adjudicated in Oregon courts. Nokes’ book also explores the little-known history of black slaves in Oregon, as well as the exclusion laws against free blacks that prevailed for most of Oregon’s early history.

A native of Oregon, Nokes was a reporter and editor for The Oregonian from 1986 to 2003. In 2009, he authored “Massacred for Gold: The Chinese in Hells Canyon” about the 1887 massacre of nearly three-dozen Chinese gold miners in Hells Canyon on the Oregon-Idaho border.

Future In Their Footstep speaker series programs include:

• Oct. 18: “The Oregon Historical Railroads Project” by Edward Kamholz;

• Nov. 15: “Dismal Nitch: Shining a Bright Light into the Dark Coves of History” by Jim Sayce;

• Dec. 20: “Lewis and Clark: the Big Picture” by Richard Brenne.

The Lewis and Clark National Park Association and the park sponsor this third-Sunday forum. These programs are held in the Netul River Room of Fort Clatsop’s visitor center and are free of charge.

For more information, call the park at 503-861-2471. Lewis and Clark National Historical Park is located at 92343 Fort Clatsop Road.