(Peteboro, NY – Oct. 2014The National Abolition Hall of Fame and Museum (NAHOF) will complete its two year induction process of four 19th Century abolitionists with Commemoration Ceremonies on Saturday, Oct. 25 in Peterboro. The afternoon Abolitionists Symposia presents a program on each of the four inductees:
After the 12:30 Upstate Institute Symposia introduction, Ary J. Lamme III PhD, professor emeritus University of Florida, will present From Alton to Peterboro: What Lovejoy Started We Can Finish. Dr. Lamme, the nominator of Elijah Parish Lovejoy to the Hall of Fame, will describe the ultimate sacrifice made by Lovejoy when he refused to stop printing anti-slavery newspapers and was murdered by a pro-slavery mob in Alton, Illinois. Colby College ME, which awards the Elijah Parish Lovejoy Award each year four journalistic achievement, is among the sponsors for Lovejoy’s commemoration.
At 2 p.m. Christopher Anglim, representing the University of the District of Columbia and its nomination, will present Myrtilla Miner: Woman of Courage and Educator of Conscience. Miner, from Brookfield in Madison County NY, withstood harassment and threats of violence against her schools for African-American girls in Washington D.C. Anglim will trace Miner’s history and the many current Myrtilla Miner projects at the university where the education department is located in the large Miner Building.Leslie T. Fenwick PhD, Dean of Howard University School of Education, and Frances S. Montez, Assistant Principal at the Miner Elementary School in D.C. are among those that will be at the Miner Commemoration.
Elizabeth Rankin-Fulcher, Co-Chair of The Black Women’s Leadership Caucus, Inc., Brooklyn NY will present a program at 3 p.m. about her ancestor Rev. John Rankin and her experience growing up in Ripley, Ohio where Rankin and his family operated a famous Underground Railroad station which helped fugitives cross the Ohio River from Kentucky. Rankin was the person that inspired Harriet Beecher Stowe’s mind-changing novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin. John R. McGivigan PhD professor at Indiana-Purdue University at Indianapolis and editor of the Frederick Douglass papers, nominated Rev. Rankin to the Hall of Fame.
At 4 p.m. nominators, supporters, and family members of Jonathan Walker from Massachusetts, Wisconsin, and Michigan will present on the slave-saving efforts of merchant marine Walker. Captain Walker risked physical punishment and death, and was branded on his hand for sailing slaves to freedom. Walker was a prolific writer for William Lloyd Garrison’s abolition newspaper The Liberator. John Greenleaf Whittier wrote a poem about the “man with the branded hand.” Alvin F. Oickle researched Walker, wrote Walker’s biography, and nominated Walker to the Hall of Fame.
At 5 p.m. the Copper Turret of Morrisville will cater a 19th Century antislavery dinner in the Smithfield Community Center in Peterboro where abolitionists met in 1835 to organize the New York State Antislavery Society. Directly following the dinner, at 7 p.m. the Commemoration Ceremonies will commence with sponsors unveiling the inductee banners that will be installed in the Abolition Hall of Fame in Peterboro. Poetry, prose, and music by Hugh C. Humphreys, member of the NAHOF Cabinet of Freedom, and Max Smith, Co-Chair of Peterboro Emancipation Days, will continue the traditions of the ceremonies.
Walk-ins are invited for the symposia and evening commemoration ceremonies.
For more information: National Abolition Hall of Fame and Museum, 5255 Pleasant Valley Road, P.O. Box 55, Peterboro NY 13134. www.nationalabolitionhalloffameandmuseum.org, dwillsey@twcny.rr.com, 315-280-8828.