This year, the “One Book, One Philadelphia” program sponsored by the Free
Library is featuring Lorene Cary’s 1995 novel, The Price of a Child. The
novel is based on the 1855 Philadelphia escape from enslavement of Jane
Johnson. There will be a number of events and programs in the Philadelphia
region through April. For information about events at the Free Library see:
http://libwww.library.phila.gov/onebook/
The Library of Company and the Friends Historical Library have mounted
special web pages connected with the Jane Johnson rescue case and related
underground railroad, anti-slavery and African-American history issues:
http://www.librarycompany.org/JaneJohnson/
http://www.swarthmore.edu/library/friends/
TORONTO, FEBRUARY 21, 2003
The Harriet Tubman Resource Centre on the African Diaspora presents a
Workshop on the Underground Railroad and the History of Blacks in Upper
Canada, February 21, 2003, Founders College, York University, Toronto, Ontario.
In commemoration of Black History Month, the Harriet Tubman Resource Centre
on the African Diaspora is pleased to invite students, teachers, scholars,
museum curators and the interested public to a workshop on the Underground
Railroad and the teaching of Black history in Canada, to be held in
Founders College at York
University. The workshop aims to bring together
students and other interested participants from a variety of sectors to
discuss issues relating to the Underground Railroad in Canada and the way
in which the role of Blacks in Canada is taught in Ontario schools as well
as its universities. The Workshop is intended to advance the development of
research and teaching tools that focus upon the experiences of peoples of
African descent in Canada. The workshop will take place in Founders College
Assembly Hall, Room 152A Pre-registration, Nadine Hunt - [email protected]
or
(416) 736-2100 ext. 66908
ALBANY, NEW YORK, FEBRUARY 22, 2003
The Underground Railroad: Movement and Context, A Conference about the
Underground Railroad and the Capital Region's Participation, February 22,
2003 * The College of Saint Rose, Albany, New York.
The Conference keynote speaker will be Judith Wellman, Ph.D., director of
Historical New York, Inc. since 1998 and retired professor of history at
SUNY-Oswego. She has written and spoken widely on the Underground Railroad,
and has been important in her county's recognition of its UGRR history.
A wide range of workshops will be offered on this subject area including:
Fugitive Slaves and Abolition Politics in the Black Atlantic World;
Archeology's Contribution: Tools and Analysis; The Underground RR in
Albany; Primary Source Documentation: A Primer; UGR Stories by Story Tellers; Quilts: Medium for A Message?; African American History in
the First Half of the 19th Century; Level Appropriate Educator Workshops.
The program will feature theater, abolition music, and a litany remembering
some of the fugitives whose names are known and who passed through the
Capital Region. Among our workshop presenters will be Chris Densmore of
Swarthmore College Friends Library, Delores Walters of the National
Underground Railroad Freedom Center, Len Tantillo the noted local painter,
and numerous others. There will be 25 workshops and lots of extras. We are
working with the William Still Foundation to provide an exhibit of some of
his artifacts.
Co-sponsoring groups include: The Underground Railroad History Project,
Historic Albany Foundation, The College of Saint Rose History and Political
Science Department, Hartgen Associates, M. C. Lawton Club, Albany Visitor's
Center (List in Formation); The Albany County Historical
Association; Black
Dimensions In Art, Inc.; the Albany Branch of the NAACP; The African
American Research Foundation; and the Harriet Tubman Home, Inc.
The Pre-registration fee is $15. Lunch is $5 additional.
For additional Information & Registration Contact: The Underground Railroad
History Project - Box 10851 - Albany, NY 12201 - 518-432-4432
Some information is obtainable through the web site: www.ugrworkshop.com
MIAMI, FLORIDA, MAY 29-31, 2003
Call for Proposals: Freedom in the Florida Territory: American and
Caribbean Connections to the Underground Railroad, May 29-31, 2003
The National Underground Railroad Freedom
Center, in cooperation with the
Florida Underground Railroad Project, and the National Park Service's
National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom Program, is sponsoring a
conference to be hosted at the University of
Miami, in Miami, Florida.
This extraordinary three day conference will be devoted to the promotion of
scholarship related to the resistance to enslavement through escape and
flight in Florida and the surrounding areas of the Caribbean, as well as
the mainlands of North, Central and South America; historic activity
described by or associated with terms such as "cimarrón" or "cimarrónes,"
"marronnage," "palenques, "quilombos," and "Black Seminoles" among others,
and known in the United States by the term "Underground Railroad."
A highlight of the conference will be a moderated panel discussion
exploring the needs and challenges facing collaborative and multicultural
research and interpretation at the grass-roots, institutional and academic
levels regarding historic Afro-Latin American resistance to enslavement
through escape and flight. The conference will be open to all having
interests in this area of study.
The Program Committee invites proposals for individual or collective
papers, sessions, workshops, roundtables, conversations, performances,
films and exhibits investigating the conference theme. Topics may address
all aspects of historic resistance to enslavement through escape and flight
in the region, including but not limited to maroon communities, historic
escape routes, or the illegal and illicit activities of abolitionists,
anti-slavery or secret societies, fraternal orders and native cultures. The
committee welcomes proposals from both professional scholars as well as
nonprofessional lay researchers. Anyone, regardless of affiliation, whose
research is relevant to Florida and Afro-Latin American connections to the
Underground Railroad is welcome to submit a proposal. Proposals must be
received by February 24, 2003. Late and incomplete proposals will not be
considered. Send proposals to: 2003 Regional Program Committee, c/o
National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, 312 Elm St., Suite 1250,
Cincinnati, OH 45202; Phone: (513) 419-6648; FAX (513) 241-7131. Electronic
submissions are encouraged. To confirm receipt of a proposal, include a
self-addressed, stamped postcard, or an email address, with the submission.
Accepted proposals will be announced by March 15, 2003.
For further information contact Tamara Williams [(513) 419-6648 or
[email protected] or one of the Program Committee Co-chairs: Orloff
Miller, National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, [email protected],
Barbara Tagger, National Park Service, National Underground Railroad
Network to Freedom Program, [email protected], Kristopher Smith,
Florida Underground Railroad Project, [email protected]
Tamara R. Williams
Project Administrator, Freedom Stations & Research Programs
National Underground Railroad Freedom Center
513/419-6648 direct
www.freedomcenter.org
GREAT LAKES HISTORY CONFERENCE, NOVEMBER 8, 2003
The 28th annual Great Lakes History Conference, sponsored by Grand Valley
State University, will be held in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on November 8,
2003. We welcome papers and arranged sessions addressing this years' theme,
"From Slavery to Freedom in the Atlantic World," including papers
addressing all aspects of slavery as well as the history of African
diasporic communities after emancipation; papers in other areas of
historical study are also welcome. We particularly seek papers in Michigan
history and the history of the Great Lakes region.
The Great Lakes History Conference is a general academic conference; all
fields of history are represented. Professor Ira Berlin of the University
of Maryland will be our keynote speaker. Send an abstract of approximately
200 words, together with a short c.v., by May 15, 2003 to Dr. Paul Murphy
or Dr. David Stark, Department of History, Grand Valley State University,
Allendale, MI 49401. Phone: (616) 331-3298 (Dept.); Email: [email protected]
or [email protected]; Fax: 616-331-3285. Please include your summer address,
e-mail address, and telephone number, if different from your current one.
For further information, see
http://www.gvsu.edu/history/glhc.html
BEDFORD COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA, RESEARCH QUERY RE: BENJAMIN HARRIS WALKER
A descendant of Underground Railroad participant, Benjamin Harris Walker
(1826-1896), is seeking additional information, particularly the location
of a record of those helped by Walker which, according to family stories,
is supposed to exist but cannot now be located. Walker’s obituary in the
Friends Intelligencer credits him with being “a proprietor of a well-known
station on the Underground Railroad” and a 1904 letter by a member of the
Penrose family, part of the records of Dunnings Creek Friends Meeting held
at Friends Historical Library, mentions Benjamin Walker and his father
Abner as active workers. Anyone having information about the Walker
family’s participation should contact William Roy Mock, 407 Rainbow Drive,
P.O. Box 122, Alum Bank, PA 15521, [email protected], 814-839-4649
Christopher Densmore, February 7, 2003
Friends Historical Library
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