Peterboro, N.Y. is where The National Abolition Hall of Fame and Museum (NAHOF) and the Gerrit Smith Estate National Historic Landmark (GSENHL) are located. Gerrit Smith was a prominent Abolitionist in the years before the Civil War. The small village will be the scene of a history-focused Juneteenth celebration. Here is the schedule excerpted from the Rome Sentinel:
Saturday, June 18
NAHOF, located at 5255 Pleasant Valley Road, Peterboro, will open at noon.
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 p.m. for Juneteenth: A Walk Through Galveston, a short video created for 2022 Black History Matters, a program funded, in part, by Humanities New York, with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities. The film will explain the history of June 19, 1865 and the new federal holiday.
At 7 p.m. the film Songs of Slavery and Emancipation will debut at NAHOF. 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.
He explains, “In 2015 I discovered a song composed and sung by slaves preparing an insurrection in South Carolina in 1813. The lyrics were explicitly revolutionary and unlike any other Negro Spiritual I’d ever heard. I realized immediately that this song posed many questions: What if there were more songs like this? Why hadn’t we heard or heard of them before? If slaves were planning an insurrection in 1813, what other revolts were there? And why wouldn’t there be songs about these revolts or rebellions? These questions inspired the search that led to the discovery of more such songs and the making of Songs of Slavery and Emancipation.”
Sunday, June 19
The Gerrit Smith Estate, located at 5304 Oxbow Road, Peterboro, will open at 1 p.m. with exhibits on Black Americans in Peterboro, the Underground Railroad, the abolition activities of the Smith family, and other displays.
At 2 p.m. 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.
According to NAHOF, 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.
In order to limit COVID-19 spread, face masks, proof of at least first two vaccines, and contact information registration may be required.
Check the websites — www.gerritsmith.org and www.nationalabolitionhalloffameandmuseum.org — for updates as volunteer operations are still evolving.
Contact info@gerritsmith.org, nahofm1835@gmail.com, or 315-684-3262 for more information.
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