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Events
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NEW YORK STATE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD HERITAGE TRAIL: PUBLIC FORUMS,
DECEMBER 1 - 17, 2003
[From press release distributed by Cordell Reaves, Coordinator, Underground
Railroad Heritage Trail Heritage New York]
A series of public forums on the State's Underground Railroad Heritage
Trail initiative are being scheduled around the state. On behalf of
Governor George Pataki, I would like to invite you to the public forum
being held in your area. The schedule of dates and locations is below. The
primary purpose of the Underground Railroad public forum is to seek
participation and input from local elected officials, citizens, historians,
and site owners on this important initiative. Public comment will shape the
structure of the grant program. The public forums will also assist us in
ensuring that all important Underground Railroad sites are identified and
given consideration for inclusion in the Heritage Trail. The forum will
include presentations on the Underground Railroad Heritage Trail
initiative, proposed grant program, and the region's role in the
Underground Railroad.
I hope that you can join us for what promises to be a most informative
evening. Please feel free to forward the schedules to any interested
parties, we will also be mailing out the schedule via postal mail this
week. Take care and be well.
UNDERGROUND RAILROAD PUBLIC FORUM SCHEDULE
- Buffalo-Monday 12/1/03 7:00 pm
- Langston Hughes Institute, 25 High Street (between Washington St. and
Ellicott St.), Buffalo. Directions only: (716) 881-3266
- Speaker: Kevin Cottrell, President Motherland Connextions
- Rochester- Tuesday 12/2/03 7:00 pm
- Monroe County Public Library, 115 South Ave., (between Court St. and E.
Broad St.) Rochester. Directions only: (585) 428-7300
www.rochester.lib.ny.us/central
- Speaker: Dr. David Anderson, Chairman- Rochester/Monroe County Freedom Trail
- Binghamton- Wednesday 12/3/03 7:00 pm
- Broome County Library, 185 Court St. (between Jay St. and Fayette St.),
Binghamton Directions only: (607) 778-6400, www.bclibrary.info
- Speaker: Dr. Daryl Thomas, Chairman Africana Studies Dept. SUNY Binghamton
- Syracuse- Monday 12/8/03 7:00 pm
- Hughes State Office Bldg., 333 E. Washington Street, (between State St. and
Montgomery St.) Syracuse. Directions only: (315) 428-4224 until 4:30PM.
Parking lot off Water street, behind building
- Speaker: Dr. Judith Wellman, Director, Historical New York Research Associates
- Albany- Wednesday 12/10/03 7:00 pm
- Albany Public Library, 161 Washington Ave., (between Dove St. and Lark St.)
Albany. Directions only: (518) 427-4300 www.albanypubliclibrary.org
- Speakers: Paul Stewart and Mary Liz Stewart, Founders, The Underground
Railroad History Project
- Long Island- Monday 12/15/03 7:00 pm
- SUNY Old Westbury, Route 107, (One Mile North of LIE, Exit 41N)
Student Union Building, Old Westbury, Long Island. Directions only: (516)
876-3000 until 5PM
www.oldwestbury.edu/directions
- Speaker: Dr. Kathleen Velsor, Associate Professor-Teacher Education, SUNY Old
Westbury
- New York City- Tuesday 12/16/03 6:00 pm
- Martin E. Segal Theatre Center, The Graduate Center (CUNY), 365 Fifth
Avenue - Main floor (between 34th and35th Street), New York City
- Speaker: Christopher Moore, Research Coordinator and Curator, Schomburg
Center for Research in Black Culture
- Hudson Valley- Wednesday 12/17/03 7:00 pm
- Pace University, Hudson Valley Center, 33 Airport Center Dr., Suite 104
New Windsor- Stewart Airport (Enter Stewart Airport, take first left, at NY
International Plaza sign; building at top of hill on right). Directions
only: (845) 567-9284. www.pace.edu/hudson click on 'Directions' in the
left menu bar
- Speaker: Dr. A.J. Williams-Meyers, Professor Black Studies Department, SUNY
New Paltz
Cordell Reaves
Coordinator, Underground Railroad Heritage Trail Heritage New York
Corning Tower Rm 2328
Albany, NY 12242
518-473-8591
Fax: (518)473-7348
[email protected]
NEW YORK STATE: CONFERENCE IN ALBANY, FEBUARY 28, 2004
[From announcement from Paul and Liz Stewart.]
We are writing you to let you know about the conference we are planning on
the Underground Railroad and its story in the Capital Region of Upstate New
York. The conference information is below. We have also taken the liberty
to send you a word document with the "save the date" information. We
encourage you to reproduce this word document and share it with others, or
place it on your church or community bulletin boards.
We are looking forward to a great program. We will be sending out the
official announcement in January and it will include all of the program
information. We expect to have more than 20 workshops for your education
and enjoyment. We look forward to seeing you there. If you have any
questions about this material you can call us at 518-432-4432. The
conference is being organized by the Underground Railroad History Project
of the Capital Region and has a co-sponsor list that is in formation. As
the conference registration materials become ready you will find the full
list of co-sponsors on that material.
-Paul & Mary Liz Stewart
The Underground Railroad: Quests for Freedom
February 28, 2004 The College of Saint Rose
432 Western Avenue
Albany, New York 12208
8AM to 5:00 PM
The conference, The Underground Railroad: Quests for Freedom, will draw
together a wide audience to learn about, share, and support research on the
Underground Railroad (UGR) in eastern New York. Bringing this information
to public awareness will contribute to celebrating and preserving this
information while acknowledging that all citizens contribute to our
region's history. A theatrical performance, recitation of a fugitive
litany, and the singing of historic songs will compliment the lecture
format of the conference.
Underground Railroad History Project of the Capital Region, Inc
P. O. Box 10851 Albany, NY 12201
518-432-4432 www.ugrworkshop.com
Our focus will be on anti-slavery alliances and the many varieties of
resistance employed by freedom seekers, community members, and
communities, as well as examining how our understanding of history and
the experiences of slavery are influenced by the teller of the story.
[From Jet Magazine announcement]
Jet Magazine, November 17, 2003
National Report
Congress Approves $11,750 in Pension Funds Owed to Harriet Tubman
Harriet Tubman the former slave who became one of the most celebrated
leaders of the Underground Railroad, is finally getting some of the money
owned to her by the United States government90 years after her death.
An appropriations bill headed to President Bush at Jet press time includes
$11,750 for Tubman, who served in the Civil War but never received a
military pension and was never paid the entire widow's pension from her
second husband's military service. The 11,750 is equal to the widow's
pension Tubman should have received from 1899 to 1913, calculated in
today's values.
"I am proud that we can now honor the memory of Harriet Tubman by making
sure that this injustice is remedied," said Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Clinton spearheaded the Congressional effort to pay Tubman the overdue
funds after a group of grade-school students from Albany, NY, who had
studied the life of Harriet Tubman, brought the matter to the senator's
attention last May.
Clinton also plans to seek a pension for Tubman's own military service.
"Harriet Tubman was one of our nation's most courageous freedom
fighters. It is important that we officially recognize her extraordinary
service," Clinton said.
Tubman was born into slavery in Maryland in 1819 and escaped to
Philadelphia when she was 25. She led hundreds of slaves to freedom on the
Underground Railroad, a network of safe houses and hiding places from the
South to the North, and was nicknamed Moses for her heroism. Tubman also
served in the Civil War as a scout, nurse and spy for the Union Army. In
1869, she married her second husband, Nelson Davis, who served in the Union
Army from 1863 to 1865.
Tubman requested a pension for her wartime service but never received
it. However, in 1888, two years after Davis' death, Tubman received a
widow's pension of 8 a month as the spouse of a veteran. In 1899 Congress
increased that amount to $25 a month, but Tubman received only $20 a month
until she died in 1913.
If Bush signs the bill, which already has been approved by the House, the
$11,750 will be used to preserve and maintain the Harriet Tubman Home in
Auburn, NY, which is now a historic site, and to honor Tubman's memory.
[With thanks to Karen James, Paul and Liz Stewart and Tara Morrison for
forwarding information for this mailing.]
Christopher Densmore, November 24, 2003
Friends Historical Library
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