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Events
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LANCASTER COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA: FOURTH ANNUAL UNDERGROUND RAILROAD
CONFERENCE, NOVEMBER 13-15, 2003
Bethel Harambee Historical Services is hosting their 4th annual Underground
Railroad Conference at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, November 13-15, 2003. For
information, consult the Bethel Harambee website:
http://www.livingtheundergroundrailroad.com/
Or contact Phoebe M. Bailey, Bethel Harambee Historical Services, 512 E.
Strawberry Street, ChurchTowne of Lancaster, PA 17602 or by e-mail at
[email protected] or telephone at 717.509.1177 x102.
The New Jersey Historical Commission is holding its 19th Annual Conference
at Princeton University, on Saturday, December 6, 2003, on the theme of
"Slavery and Abolition in New Jersey." This year marks the 200th
anniversary of the New Jersey law for the gradual emancipation of
slavery. The program includes a lectures by Ira Berlin, "Emancipation in
New Jersey and the Transformation of Freedom in the United States" and
Clement A. Price, "Flawed Freedom: New Jersey and the First Emancipation"
in the morning. Afternoon events include a panel discussion on slavery with
Colin Palmer, Millicent Sparks, Garyt Wolinetz and Giles Wright. There is
a charge for registration and lunch, and space is limited. For further
information, go to the web site at www.njche.com
or contact the New Jersey
Historical Commission at 609-292-6062 or by e-mail at [email protected]
UNDERGROUND RAILROAD HISTORY PROJECT OF THE CAPITAL REGION
[NEW YORK STATE]
Contributed by Paul Stewart [email protected]:
"I would like to share that the Underground Railroad History Project of
the Capital Region, Inc. is working on two projects that will be of general
interest to list participants.
"1) We are working on planning a conference for February 28, [2004] at the
College of Saint Rose in Albany. The focus of the conference will be the 'Quest for Freedom of the Freedom Seekers of the Underground Railroad.' One
of the things people are often told about the Underground Railroad is that
it was secret and that 'slaves' were secreted to Canada. While this is true
in many ways, it was quite open in many ways too. Our project has identified
55 people who made their way through our community. In some cases there are
pictures available of these people. There are many stories. Professor Risa
Fausette of the History Department of the College of Saint Rose will be the
keynote speaker. Much of the program is in the planning stages right now
but there may be as many as 20 workshops aimed at all levels of interest.
"Last February's conference included people such as Nancy Payne with her
children and family- oriented program, Pat Murray on Quilts, Len Tantillo
discussing the intersection of art and history, several workshops aimed at
teachers, preservationists, and researchers, and Chris Densmore on Quakers.
This next one promises to have similar offerings, but will be different enough to
be satisfying.
"A feature of last February's program was the play,
'I Don't Know Where I'm
Goin' But It's Got To Be Better Than Where I've been.' It had a cast of seven,
was written by black playwright Wanda Webster and featured an all
African American cast, and was accompanied by youth drummer Moysege
Nwalewa. It focused on the freedom seekers who had come through the
area and on the area abolitionists. The performance of the play received a standing
ovation. Wanda is working on another production that she hopes to debut at the
upcoming conference. I know many people may not remember, but the conference last February took place on a day when
a major snow storm threatened. The attendance suffered because of that, but there were still 180
people or more there despite the weather predictions.
"2) We are working with a coalition of state and local groups across the
state to develop a conference in Auburn that would be a state conference on
the Underground Railroad. The Coalition has been meeting since last April.
This conference is planned for October 1, 2, and 3 in Auburn in conjunction
with the Harriet Tubman Home, Inc. More information will be forthcoming.
Please mark your calendars!"
A new "Underground Railroad Research Forum" managed by Bennie McRae, has
been established at Afrigeneas. Though this discussion list has been
active for less than two weeks, there have already been more than fifty
contributions, making this, to my knowledge, the most active URR discussion
list.
http://afrigeneas.com/forum-ugrr/
NEW PUBLICATION: TEACHING WITH PRIMARY SOURCE DOCUMENTS
Susan Hoffman Fishman, "The Escape of the Pearl: Teaching About Slavery
With Primary Source Documents," Social Education 67:5 (September 2003):
261-5, attempt at mass exodus from Washington, DC, on the Pearl, high
school history students.
CHESTER COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA: FUGITIVE SLAVE INDEX
The Chester County (Pennsylvania) Archives has recently placed on-line an
index to its fugitive slave records. These records were created in response
to a Pennsylvania law of 1820 to prevent kidnapping and include information
on those claimed as fugitives in Chester County from 1820 to 1839. Each
record includes the name and residence of the owner, the name, age, height
and sex of the claimed fugitive, and the date of the petition. A very
useful resource. Do similar records exist for other counties in Pennsylvania?
http://dsf.chesco.org/archives/site/default.asp (click link at left for
"online resources")
Christopher Densmore, November 5, 2003
Friends Historical Library
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