Pictured is Jack Baylis, Abraham Lincoln reenactor.
(Peterboro, NY – Feb. 2015) The National Abolition Hall of Fame and Museum (NAHOF) in Peterboro has suspended its two year cycle of inductions and commemorations in 2015 in order to address President Abraham Lincoln as The Great Emancipator.
Lincoln: During this Sesquicentennial year of Lincoln’s death, the end of the Civil War, and the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment, NAHOF and its Peterboro heritage partners will provide public programs on Lincoln from March to October 2015. The first Lincoln program will be Saturday, March 7 at 1 p.m. at 5255 Pleasant Valley Road, Peterboro, as part of the annual birthday party for Gerrit Smith.
Norman K. Dann PhD will trace the Peterboro connection to the evolution of the 19th C. Republican Party, the party of Lincoln, as well as explain the connection of Lincoln’s Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation facsimile on display at NAHOF to the Thirteenth Amendment that abolished slavery in the United States.
Matthew Urtz, Madison County Historian, will describe the relationship between Lincoln and telegrapher Samuel Beckwith of Hamilton at 6:30 pm, Thursday, May 28 at the Hamilton Public Library. This program is part of the Madison County Civil War Series.
Well-known Lincoln reenactor Jack Baylis will lead the Processional Honoring Civil War Veterans at the 23rd Annual Peterboro Civil War Weekend on Saturday, June 13. The Reichert exhibit of Lincoln’s funeral will be on display for the annual weekend event. At 7 p.m. Saturday, June 13 Patrick Schroeder, historian at the Appomattox Court House National Historic Park, will present on the final engagement of the Civil War.
The Annual Peterboro Emancipation Day on Aug. 1 is a celebration of Lincoln’s emancipation documents. Equality Days on August 22 and 23 examine the protection of civil rights for women. J. Thomas HoglePhD, Morrisville State College, will present his annual Constitution Day program in September with a focus on the Thirteenth Amendment for which Lincoln pressed passage.
The 2012 movie Lincoln will be presented at 6:30 p.m. at the Cazenovia Public Library to commence a Thursday night series of films and discussions around Madison County in October. This film series Created Equal: America’s Civil Rights Struggle is a special project developed by a partnership between the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. The films Freedom Riders, The Loving Story, and Slavery by Another Name will be presented on a rotation schedule at the Hamilton Public Library, Madison Hall, and the Oneida Public Library.
The final film in the series will be The Abolitionists presented Sunday, Oct. 25 at the Smithfield Community Center in Peterboro.
The study of Lincoln culminates during the National Abolition Hall of Fame and Museum’s annual public weekend with an evening concert for Lincoln on Friday, Oct. 23 at the Catherine Cumming Theatre in Cazenovia.
On Saturday afternoon Oct. 24 Milton C. Sernett PhD will facilitate a round-table discussion with Douglas Egerton PhD., Jason Emerson, Joseph Fornieri PhD, and Robert Paquette PhD on The Emancipation of Abraham Lincoln: Head, Heart, and the American Memory.
Following a 19th C. dinner to which the public is invited, Harold Holzer, President of the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission, will present the Lincoln and the Abolitionist Press: An American Evolution.
For updates, please check www.nationalabolitionhalloffameandmuseum.org,
315-280-8828 as plans and announcements continue to unfold.