The National Abolition Hall of Fame and Museum induction ceremonies for the 2016 inductees will be held Saturday, October 22, 2016 at NAHOF, 5255 Pleasant Valley Road, Peterboro. The inductees are Rev. John Gregg Fee, Beriah Green, Angelina Grimké, and James W.C. Pennington.
Milton C. Sernett PhD, who nominated Beriah Green to the Hall of Fame, will be giving an illustrated talk about Beriah Green and the Oneida Institute at 2:30 pm for the Abolition Symposia.
Sernett’s program Abolition’s Axe: Beriah Green, Oneida Institute, and the Black Freedom Struggle echoes the biography of Green by the same title which was also written by Sernett. Green (1795-1874) was a theologian, educator, and reformer, and a radical abolitionist at a time when the voices for freedom in America were few in number.
Born in Connecticut, Beriah Green trained for the ministry with the intent of becoming a foreign missionary. He found his true calling, however, as an abolitionist educator and Biblical scholar, first at Western Reserve College in Hudson OH and, after 1833, as President of Oneida Institute, Whitesboro, Oneida County.
Despite opposition from religious conservatives and the public, Green transformed Oneida Institute into an abolitionist school. Much of Green’s abolitionist career was devoted to dismantling the intellectual apparatus used to defend slavery. Green died in Whitesboro in 1874 and is buried in Grand View Cemetery in Whitesboro. Dr. Sernett will also provide a display on Green and a book signing of his books that relate to Green. Norman K. Dann PhD, author ofPractical Dreamer: Gerrit Smith and the Crusade for Social Reform and a founder of the Hall of Fame, will introduce Milt Sernett with brief remarks on the influence of Beriah Green on Gerrit Smith of Peterboro.
Dr. Sernett will officially nominate Green during the 7 p.m. Induction Ceremonies Saturday evening. Nominators for the inductees will briefly describe the reasons that the inductee should be included in the Abolition Hall of Fame. Sernett is one of the founders of the National Abolition Hall of Fame and Museum and serves on the Cabinet of Freedom for NAHOF. Syracuse University professor emeritus Sernett was a professor of African American studies and an adjunct professor of religion. Sernett is an author of many books of history including North Star Country: Upstate New York and the Crusade for African American Freedom and Come to Peterboro: Commemorating the 175th Anniversary of 1835.
Relatives and affiliates will second the nomination of Green, and the official NAHOF portraits created by Melissa Moshetti will be presented. Max Alden Smith, CoChair of Peterboro Emancipation Days, will provide musical renditions throughout the evening, along with commentaries by Hugh Humphreys, a member of the NAHOF Cabinet of Freedom. Jan DeAmicis, Co-Chair of the Oneida County Freedom Trail Commission, will commemorate the 181stanniversary of the inaugural meeting of the New York State Antislavery Society.
An 11 o’clock sandwich buffet will be provided by the Peterboro United Methodist Church. After the Abolition Symposia in the afternoon, the Deli on the Green will cater the annual Antislavery Dinner at 5 p.m. The Peterboro Mercantile will have books, buttons, and stationery related to the inductees available at the event. Book signings by presenting authors will be available.
The Gerrit Smith Estate National Historic Landmark (5304 Oxbow Road, Peterboro) and the National Abolition Hall of Fame and Museum will open at 9 am on Sunday, October 23. Norman K. Dann PhD, Gerrit Smith biographer, will conduct a tour of the Gerrit Smith Estate at 9:00 am. NAHOF honors antislavery abolitionists, their work to end slavery, and the legacy of that struggle, and strives to complete the second and ongoing abolition – the moral conviction to end racism.NAHOF is located in Peterboro NY in the building where the New York State Anti-Slavery Society held its inaugural meeting October 22, 1835.
The public is encouraged to attend. A registration package for the sandwich lunch buffet, Abolition Symposia, Antislavery Dinner, and Evening Ceremonies for $55 is due October 15 to the National Abolition Hall of Fame and Museum, 5255 Pleasant Valley Road, PO Box 55, Peterboro NY 13134. Lunch ($14) and Dinner ($41) may be reserved separately by October 15, as well. Walk-ins are welcomed. (Meals must be reserved.) For more information, registration forms, and updates, visit www.nationalabolitionhalloffameandmuseum.org, nahofm1835@gmail.com, 315-280-8828. Lodging information: www.madisontourism.com