The Gerrit Smith Estate National Historic Landmark will host the 11th Annual Peterboro Emancipation Day on Saturday, August 7th, commemorating emancipation from slavery in the 19th century. [Read more…] about 11th Annual Peterboro Emancipation Day August 7th
Emancipation Days
Peterboro Emancipation Day Events Postponed to 2021
The 2020 Peterboro Emancipation Day planned for August 1st, 2020 has been rescheduled for Saturday, August 7th, 2021 at the Gerrit Smith Estate National Historic Landmark.
The event will begin at 10 at The Barn on the Gerrit Smith Estate. After the morning assembly, songs, announcements, and the annual group photo, a processional to the Peterboro Cemetery will carry wreaths to lay on the grave of a person who was born enslaved, and died free. [Read more…] about Peterboro Emancipation Day Events Postponed to 2021
Watch Night Commemorates Emancipation Proclamation
President Abraham Lincoln presented his first draft of his Emancipation Proclamation to his Cabinet for critique and revision on July 22, 1862. Lincoln’s next submission of his Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation was presented again to his Cabinet on September 22, 1862 announcing that in one hundred days the federal government would free all enslaved people in the states rebelling against the Union. [Read more…] about Watch Night Commemorates Emancipation Proclamation
Harriet Tubman A Focus in Peterboro August 3rd
The Tenth Annual Peterboro Emancipation Days have been set for August 3rd, at 9:30 am, at the Gerrit Smith Estate National Historic Landmark, 5304 Oxbow Road in Peterboro.
Interior and exterior exhibits will be open including information on black freedom seekers who passed through Peterboro on their way to Canada, who stayed in Peterboro for lifetimes, who lived in Peterboro while working in the abolition movement, who served in the Civil War, and who came for an education at the Manual Labor School. There are also exhibits on the Underground Railroad, Gerrit Smith, and Greene Smith. [Read more…] about Harriet Tubman A Focus in Peterboro August 3rd
The Underground Railroad Escape of Harriet Powel
The Gerrit Smith Estate National Historic Landmark is set to hold a presentation on three African-American women who escaped slavery on the Underground Railroad: Harriet Powel, Harriet Russell, and Harriet Tubman, on Saturday, August 3rd, beginning at 1:15 pm. This event coincides with the Tenth Annual Peterboro Emancipation Days, being held on August 3rd and 4th. [Read more…] about The Underground Railroad Escape of Harriet Powel
Harriet Russell’s Journey From Slavery to New York
The Tenth Annual Peterboro Emancipation Day, set for Saturday, August 3rd, is set to recognize three women of color important to Underground Railroad history in Peterboro, at the Smithfield Community Center, 5255 Pleasant Valley, Peterboro. [Read more…] about Harriet Russell’s Journey From Slavery to New York
10th Annual Peterboro Emancipation Days Set For August
The Tenth Annual Peterboro Emancipation Days, commemorating the 19th century emancipation, has been set for Saturday, August 3 and Sunday, August 4, 2019. [Read more…] about 10th Annual Peterboro Emancipation Days Set For August
A Report From Peterboro Emancipation Day Gathering
Families, friends, presenters, and supporters of the Gerrit Smith Estate National Historic Landmark gathered from across the state and country to participate in the 8th Annual Peterboro Emancipation Day August 5, 2017 in Peterboro NY.
The sun shone on the outdoor gathering in front of the barn whence carriages drove to carry fugitives to Oswego to cross by boat to Canada. Organizers Jim Corpin, Carrie Martin, and Max Smith, opened the morning session. [Read more…] about A Report From Peterboro Emancipation Day Gathering
7th Annual Peterboro Emancipation Days August 6-7
The Gerrit Smith Estate National Historic Landmark (GSENHL) will be commemorating Emancipation Days Saturday and Sunday, August 6 and 7 with both traditional and new programs.
The event opens at 10 am with free parking and free registration at the Estate, followed by programs similar to those conducted in the 1920s and 1930s by a generation celebrating the emancipation of the generation before them. In 1925, more than 600 black men and women from Central New York made a pilgrimage to Peterboro, home of Gerrit Smith, to pay homage to abolitionists who fought for their freedom. Emancipation Day celebrations grew in later years, drawing crowds of more than 1,000 people, who came from Syracuse, Utica, Ithaca, Binghamton, Oswego and Fulton for parades, picnics and concerts. Although the practice faded after World War II, local descendants of freedom seekers are holding the Peterboro Emancipation Day celebration for the 7th year since its revival in 2010. [Read more…] about 7th Annual Peterboro Emancipation Days August 6-7