(Peterboro, NY – Aug. 2013) In recognition of Women’s Equality Day (Aug. 26) Gerrit Smith researcher and biographer Norman K. Dann PhD will share his research and discuss his book Cousins of Reform: Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Gerrit Smith Aug. 25 at the Gerrit Smith Estate National Historic Landmark in Peterboro.
Dann’s purpose for the publication was to shed light on the implications between the two social movements.
Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Gerrit Smith were first cousins born 18 years apart. Stanton spent her summers in Peterboro learning of social reforms at her elder cousin’s home. (It was in Peterboro that Cady met abolitionist Henry Brewster Stanton and it was in Peterboro that Stanton proposed marriage to Cady).
Discussions in Peterboro about the nature of reform and the social and political implications of gender, sex, race, and religion helped each to refine their causes – and define themselves. Dann sheds light on the “complex relationship between two radical reformist giants.” (Kate Clifford Larson PhD, author of Bound for the Promised Land: Harriet Tubman, Portrait of an American Hero).
Judy Wellman states that Dann’s “lively account” of these two cousins “offers a model for civil discussion on issues of equality and justice.”
Admission to the program (including admission to the Gerrit Smith Estate) is $3 for adults and free for students.
Proceeds benefit the Gerrit Smith Estate National Historic Landmark. The Gerrit Smith Estate National Historic Landmark, the National Abolition Hall of Fame and Museum, the Peterboro Mercantile, a community heritage shop are open Saturdays and Sundays 1 – 5 p.m. from May – September, for special events and by appointment.
For more information, email info@gerritsmith.org or call 
315-280-8828.