Changing America: The Emancipation Proclamation, 1863, and the March on Washington, 1963, a national traveling exhibition which explores the relationship between two great people’s movements for equal rights, opens at the National Abolition Hall of Fame and Museum at 5255 Pleasant Valley Road, Peterboro, Saturday, June 4. NAHOF is one of 50 sites in the country awarded this special exhibit.
Changing America examines the events leading up to the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 and the March on Washington in 1963. Both grew out of decades of bold actions, resistance, organization, and vision. One hundred years separate them, yet they are linked in the larger story of a struggle for liberty which brought together different races, classes and ideologies and had a profound impact on the generations that followed.
Changing America is presented by the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture and the National Museum of American History in collaboration with the American Library Association Public Programs Office. The traveling exhibition is made possible by the National Endowment for the Humanities: Exploring the human endeavor. NAHOF and partner libraries are offering free programs in connection with the exhibition.
Thursday, April 28, at 7 p.m., the Oneida Public Library, in preparation for the Changing America exhibit, will show a PBS movie The March on Washington after which Max Smith, co-chair of the annual Peterboro Emancipation Day, will lead a discussion on the movie.
Wednesday, May 25, at 7 p.m., the Cazenovia Public Library will show the movie Brother Outside: The Life of Bayard Rustin.Rustin was the primary organizer of the March on Washington in 1963.
Saturday, June 4, the Changing America exhibit will open at NAHOF with a series of programs for the public.
- 4:30 p.m., The Changing America Exhibit: An Introduction and Explanation by exhibit project director Tim McLaughlin PhD.
- 5:30 p.m., A Changing America exhibit reception with refreshments for the public – with recognitions to members of the Stone Quarry Hill Art Park for the loan of the sculpture The Young Lincoln, and to the persons involved in the 2015Created Equal: America’s Civil Rights Struggle programs in Madison County. (Created Equal was made possible through a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, as part of its Bridging Cultures initiative, in partnership with the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History.)
- 7 p.m., Emancipation Music: Lyrics and Songs presented and performed by Max Smith. A selection of songs from 1863 and 1963 will be explained as to historical origins, uses, performers, and sung by Smith. An “Emancipation Hymnal” program will be given to the audience members.
Monday, June 6, at 7 p.m., at the Hamilton Public Library a book discussion on The Help will be led by library staff.
Saturday, June 18, at 2 p.m., at NAHOF Remembering the March on Washington with personal accounts, pictures and newspaper reports will be hosted by Tim McLaughlin PhD during New York State’s Path through History Weekend.
Saturday, June 25, at 2 p.m., at NAHOF Spaces of Enslavement: Spaces of Freedom will be presented by Ary J. Lamme III PhD, followed by a tour with Norman K. Dann PhD of the Gerrit Smith Estate National Historic Landmark freedom spaces.
Sunday, July 3, at 2 p.m. at NAHOF Christine Ridarsky, City of Rochester historian, will show a video of the discovery of a new Frederick Douglass portrait found in a scrapbook, and speak to Douglass’ speech What to the Slave in the Fourth of July?
Saturday, July 9, at 2 p.m., at NAHOF the NAHOF Cultural Diversity Committee will examine how NAHOF’s mission “to complete the second and ongoing abolition” relates to Resisting the “New Jim Crow.”
The Changing America exhibit opens June 4 and closes July 14 with weekend hours 1 to 5 p.m. and Mondays through Thursdays from noon to 4 p.m. The public is encouraged to take advantage of the opportunity to visit the exhibit and to attend the programs, and to check for updates and further information at www.nationalabolitionhalloffameandmuseum.org, nahofm1835@gmail.com, and 315-280-8828.