The National Abolition Hall of Fame and Museum (NAHOF) will host the Madison County NY Anti-Racism Collaborative on Saturday, May 14, 2022 at 5255 Pleasant Valley Road, Peterboro NY. The event opens at 1:30 p.m. for registration, partaking of the displays and exhibits, and visiting the Abolition Hall and Museum.
At 2:00 the presentations begin with a welcome by Jeff McCarn, Chair of the Ongoing Abolition Committee which organized the event. McCarn will then introduce collaboration partners: Louise Brown-Smith from the Anti-Racism Coalition of Cazenovia, Xena Becker representing the Hamilton Area Anti-Racism Coalition, and Trish Johnson, who is forming a new group in the City of Oneida. They will describe the foundation, purpose, and activities of their respective organizations. The African American History Association will be represented by Janet Bennett, Willie Talmadge, and Herbert Thorpe to explain a county exhibit currently at the Oneida County History Center. Rick Ufford-Chase will close with a description of a Presbytery Project addressing the church history with slavery. A question and answer period will follow the organizational descriptions.
At 2:45 five Power of the Pen campaigns will be explained: 19th Century abolitionists were writers who used the influence of the written word as a technique for mobilizing the public.
The Hamilton Quaker Meeting will explain the Abolition Amendment which is a legislative initiative to remove fourteen words from the Thirteenth Amendment which allow slavery to be sanctioned in our times. Karol Kucinski, CoChair of the NAHOF Hall and Museum committee, will clarify the meaning of the Confederate Flag. Journalism’s important 19th and 21stcentury role will be shared by Mike Jaquay, Community News Reporter for the Mid-York Weekly in Hamilton and Observer-Dispatch in Utica. Louise Smith-Brown, a founder of the Anti-Racism Coalition in Cazenovia, will describe the accomplishments of efforts for municipalities to embrace anti-bias resolutions. Jeff McArn, Chair of the NAHOF Ongoing Abolition Committee, will present a brief description of Reparations: 40 Acres and a Mule.
At 3:15 Gina Jennings, Jim Corpin, Lenore Corpin, and Al Riley will address Growing Up Black in Madison County. The panel will be moderated by Max Smith, a member of the NAHOF Cabinet of Freedom, who will also encourage questions from the audience.
At 4:00 Susan Waterstripe Galbraith will invite the audience to offer suggestions as to how Galbraith can actualize her personal proposal for atonement for past wrongs, and for wealth inequality.
At 4:15 Jacqueline Nelson, President of the Rome Branch of the NAACP will speak to the New York State origin of the interracial National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the activities of the Rome Branch, and invite a consideration of a rural group.
At 5:00 NAHOF will announce its plan for a Teen Abolition Award and invite interested persons to join a brain-storming session on the qualifications of the award after the closing of the event.
The public is encouraged to attend all of the free event, or parts of it. Masks, vaccination proof, and contact information are required. No food will be served.
For more information:
www.NationalAbolitionHallofFameandMuseum.org,
315-684-3262