The Clinton County Historical Association will host the lecture “Isaac Johnson: Slave, Soldier, Quarryman, Master Mason, Contractor” by Cornel “Corky” Reinhart, on Tuesday, July 13th, in Plattsburgh.
Isaac Johnson was still enslaved when he joined a white Michigan Union regiment in the Civil War, after escaping from his brutal Kentucky enslaver. Making his way to Detroit, Johnson enlisted in the 102nd U.S. Colored Regiment and was wounded twice in Georgia and South Carolina battles. He later settled in Ontario and Northern New York. There he became a respected master stonemason, contractor, bridge-builder and building designer.
Johnson’s extant building include the Waddington Town Hall; the Winchester United Methodist Church in Winchester, Ontario; the Immaculate Heart of Mary Church in Churubusco; and the stone arch bridge over the Grass River at Chamberlain’s Corners. Johnson is buried in Ogdensburg.
Cornel “Corky” Reinhart is the Retired Director of the University Without Walls program at Skidmore College, whose lifelong interests have included African-American History and American Social History.
This lecture will begin at 6:30 pm, at the Plattsburgh House of Prayer, 63 Broad Street, Plattsburg. This presentation is free and open to the public. For more information email director@clintoncountyhistorical.org, call (518) 561-0340 or visit the Clinton County Historical Association website.
Read more about Black History in New York State here.
Photos, from above: portrait of Isaac Johnson as a young man; and St. James Anglican Church in Morrisburg.
Leave a Reply