The National Abolition Hall of Fame and Museum (NAHOF) and the Gerrit Smith Estate National Historic Landmark (GSENHL) in Peterboro, Madison County, NY will present a number programs during the upcoming Juneteenth Weekend.
NAHOF will open at noon on Saturday, June 18th. Besides the Hall of Abolitionists and the Chronology of Abolition from the Colonial Period to Reconstruction exhibits, the Power of the Pen activities developed for the Madison County Anti-Racism Collaborative in May will be available for the public.
NAHOF will close at 6:30 pm for Juneteenth: A Walk Through Galveston, a short video created for 2022 Black History Matters, a program exploring the history of June 19th, 1865 and the new federal holiday.
At 7 pm the film Songs of Slavery and Emancipation will debut at NAHOF at the same time of its debut at the People’s Forum at 320 West 37th Street New York. Musician, author, songwriter, activist, and music producer Mat Callahan of Bern, Switzerland, brought a videographer to Peterboro to record for the film. Callahan had recently discovered songs composed by enslaved people and long-lost songs of the abolition movement.
The Gerrit Smith Estate will open at 1 pm on Sunday, June 19th with exhibits on Black Americans in Peterboro, the Underground Railroad, the abolition activities of the Smith family, and other displays. At 2 pm Norman K. Dann will present “The Underground Railroad as a Moral Statement.” Dann will describe the existence of the Underground Railroad as a moral testament about a corrupt nation. By 1830 the abolition movement was heating up because the country had failed to implement its ideals of “freedom and justice for all.”
Five dollar admission includes presentations and exhibits at each site. The Gerrit Smith Estate National Historic Landmark is located at 5304 Oxbow Road, Peterboro, and the National Abolition Hall of Fame and Museum is at 5255 Pleasant Valley Road, Peterboro. For more information, visit the Gerrit Smith Estate website, and the National Abolition Hall of Fame and Museum website.
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