John Brown

John Brown Lives! Honors Juneteenth With Event

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June 19th commemorates “Juneteenth”, the oldest known celebration of the end of slavery in the United States, and is observed in more than 30 states. It is also known as Freedom Day, or Emancipation Day. Join us in honoring “Juneteenth” with an author reception for Scott Christianson, author of the critically acclaimed book Freeing Charles: The Struggle to Free a Slave on the Eve of the Civil War (University of Illinois Press, 2010).

Scott will speak about the life and dramatic rescue of a captured fugitive slave from Virginia, Charles Nalle, who was liberated by Harriet Tubman and others in Troy, NY in 1860.

Of note, Freeing Charles has been featured in The New York Times Book Review and excerpted in The Wall Street Journal. An award-winning writer, scholar, and human rights activist, Christianson’s interest in American history, particularly slavery, dates back to his boyhood in upstate New York, when he discovered some of his ancestors’ Civil War letters.

This event will be held on The Rooftop Terrace of The Northwoods Inn on Main Street in Lake Placid and is co-sponsored by the Lake Placid Institute for the Arts & Humanities, John Brown Lives! and John Brown Coming Home.

The reception begins at 4:00 pm and is free and open to the public. The Northwoods Inn will open a cash bar during the author reception and offer an optional Adirondack-style BBQ on the terrace for $10 per person (tax and gratuity included) following the event. Freeing Charles will be available for purchase and Christianson will be on hand to sign copies of the book.

This year, June 19th follows on the release of a new U.S. State Department report released yesterday citing &#8211 for the first time &#8211 that despite the end of slavery, human trafficking is a serious problem in the United States.

Secretary Clinton (June 14, 2010): &#8220The 10th annual Trafficking in Persons Report outlines the continuing challenges across the globe, including in the United States. The Report, for the first time, includes a ranking of the United States based on the same standards to which we hold other countries. The United States takes its first-ever ranking not as a reprieve but as a responsibility to strengthen global efforts against modern slavery, including those within America. This human rights abuse is universal, and no one should claim immunity from its reach or from the responsibility to confront it.&#8221

The full report and announcement can be found online.

This is the first event in a series of anti-slavery conventions sponsored by John Brown Lives! and John Brown Coming Home.

For more information or to make reservations, call 518-962-4758 or 518-523-1312. Also visit http://www.lakeplacidinstitute.org/.

Adirondack History Center Annouces 2010 Schedule

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The Adirondack History Center Museum, located in the old school building at the corner of Route 9N and Hand Avenue in Elizabethtown, Essex County, has announced it’s 2010 Season of events and exhibits.

In addition to the season’s events, the museum displays artifacts from over two centuries of life in Essex County and the central Adirondacks. The diverse collection includes 18th century artifacts, an 1887 Concord stagecoach, an iron bobsled from the 1932 Olympic Games, a 58 foot Fire Observation Tower to climb, a colonial garden patterned after the gardens of Hampton Court, England and Colonial Williamsburg, and more.

The Museum is open 10am &#8211 5pm, 7 days a week from late May through mid-October. The Brewster Library is open all year by appointment only. Admission: Adults $5, Seniors $4, Students $2. Ages 6 and under are free.

The 2010 Schedule includes:

Exhibits

A Sign of the Times May 29- October 31

Curators have mined the museum’s collection, scoured the region, and called upon the citizens of Essex County to gather SIGNS! The exhibit focuses on SIGNS &#8211 all things that convey ideas, information, commands, designations or directions. Displayed wall to wall and ceiling to floor this exhibit prompts the viewer to discuss and ponder facts, purposes, qualities, and gestures conveyed by signs.

Swan Furniture June 19 – October 31

This exhibit highlights the Swans and their craftsmanship as important symbols of Westport and Wadhams cultural heritage. The furniture places the Swans into historical context as representatives of our human landscape. A unique blend of pieces provides visitors an opportunity to reflect on the furniture as art objects and artifacts in a museum setting.

ACNA Cover Art Show Sept. 20 – October 31

The 23rd year of the Arts Council for the Northern Adirondacks (ACNA) Cover Art Show featuring local artists. Thirty donated artworks for a Silent Auction are included in the exhibition. The winning Cover Art show piece is to be raffled at &#8220Field, Forest and Stream Day&#8221 on September 25th, 2010.

Events

Can History be Reconciled? A Conversation on Compassion & Courage

July 9, 4pm

Whether we’re reading the esoteric histories of others or dealing with our own, some issues are difficult to grasp and process. Don Papson, President of the North Country Underground Railroad Historical Association, will engage the audience in a discussion on compassion and courage in light of oppression, slavery and liberation.

Lecture: Captain Brown’s Birthday Party by Amy Godine

July 11, 4 pm

From 1922 into the 1960s, black pilgrims from northern cities joined ranks with white Adirondackers to honor the May 9 birthday of the militant abolitionist John Brown with speeches, concerts, sermons and prayers, earning Lake Placid a reputation as an oasis of interracial tranquility in the age of Jim Crow. How was each group able to find common cause in John Brown? How did each group use the other to promote its own agenda? And whose version of John Brown prevails at his home and gravesite in North Elba, a state-managed historic site since 1897? Join us to hear Historian Amy Godine answer these questions and examine the struggle it both enabled and concealed over John Brown’s public image and the meaning of freedom itself.

Fundraiser: Elizabethtown Historic Slide Show for the Town Hall Stained Glass Window Project

July 18, 4 pm

Back with added photographs and materials, local historian, Margaret Bartley, is offering the Elizabethtown Historic Slide Show for a second year as part of the Elizabethtown Day celebration. Proceeds from this event benefit the restoration of the Elizabethtown Town Hall stained glass windows, a project of Historic Pleasant Valley and the Essex County Historical Society. Any and all donations are welcome.

Museum Benefit: Come as you ART

July 24, 8pm

An evening of dance, delicacies, and expressive dress. Design and create your own clothing. Let your artistic side or a work of art inspire your attire. Music provided by the Chrome Cowboys.

Performance: Bits & Pieces

About a Bridge

Fridays: July 30, Aug 6 & 13, 11am / Sunday August 1, 4pm

This theatrical elegy weaves together voices from the life of the Champlain Bridge.

Lecture: Asanath Nicholson: Adirondack Teacher and World Humanitarian by Maureen Murphy

August 8, 4 pm

Maureen Murphy, Professor of Curriculum and Teaching in the School of Education in Health and Human Services at Hofstra University conveys the history of Asenath Hatch Nicholson, an early 19th century woman, schoolteacher, health reformer, traveler, writer, evangelist, social worker and peace activist. Asenath Hatch Nicholson (1792-1855), born in Chelsea, Vermont, made her way across Lake Champlain to Elizabethtown, New York. At age 21, she started a boarding school on Water Street for students from the town and neighboring farms. While in Elizabethtown, she met her husband Norman Nicholson, a local widower with a young family. The couple moved to New York City where Nicholson became a disciple of the health reformer Sylvester Graham. Nicholson opened a Grahamite boarding house and worked among the poor. After she was widowed, she set out from New York on a fifteen-month visit to Ireland to “investigate the condition of the Irish poor,” reading the Bible to country people, and sharing their hospitality, leaving us with a glimpse of Ireland on the eve of the Great Irish Famine in her book Ireland’s Welcome to the Stranger (1847).

Festival: Field, Forest & Stream Sept 25, 10-3:30

A harvest festival sponsored by the Arts Council for the Northern Adirondacks and the Elizabethtown-Lewis Chamber of Commerce featuring demonstrations and exhibits by regional craftspeople, antique dealers, storytellers and musical performances.

Ten Biggest Stories in New York History For 2009

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In no particular order, the Ten Biggest Stories in New York State History in 2009.

150th Anniversary of John Brown’s Death
2009 marked the 150th anniversary of abolitionist John Brown’s anti-slavery raid on Harpers Ferry, Virginia, his subsequent execution and the return of his body to North Elba, Essex County. To commemorate Brown’s struggle to end slavery in America, activities included lectures, a symposium, and a reenactment of the return of Brown’s body to North Elba including an overnight stay in Elizabethtown.


Archeological Discoveries
It was a big year for archeological discoveries in Essex County where work on the pre-civil African American community progressed, in Lake Ontario where an 1850s Schooner was discovered, in Albany where an early 19th century cemetery was uncovered, and in Fishkill where a number of Revolutionary War era graves were found. Also, a Civil War soldier was finally returned to Saratoga National Cemetery to be reburied.

Rogers Island, Fort Edward
While dredging PCBs from the Hudson River in Fort Edward a dredge struck the remains of Old Fort Edward damaging one of the most important and historic military sites in New York State. Archaeologist scrambled to asses and mitigate the damage. Another tragic event happened in November when Jeffrey Harbison, part of a 5-person archaeological crew hired by General Electric to begin research for Phase 2 of the Hudson River dredging project next summer, was drowned after going over a dam. The bad news at Rogers Island was capped with later that month when a development plan for the southern end of the island was presented.

400th Anniversary of Henry Hudson
New Year’s Day 2009 marked the start of New York’s Quadricentennial celebration commemorating 400 years of history on the Hudson River, New York Harbor and Lake Champlain. Throughout the year, New York honored the 400th anniversaries of the voyage of Captain Henry Hudson, who led (for the Dutch) the first European expedition to sail up the river that now bears his name, as well as the voyage of Samuel de Champlain, the first to discover the namesake lake. Communities from the Big Apple to the Canadian border held events to highlight New York’s rich history of exploration and discovery.

Lake Champlain Bridge Demolition
The Lake Champlain Bridge, built in 1929 to span between Crown Point, New York and Chimney Point, Vermont, was undergoing study to deal with it’s historic preservation when on October 16, 2009 it was closed indefinitely. In November an engineering report suggested the bridge be demolished and in late December it was unceremoniously destroyed by demolished with explosives. A several hour detour now replaces the old bridge.

Historic Preservation Tax Credit
In July Governor David Paterson signed legislation that greatly improves the New York State Rehabilitation Tax Credit program. The new law provides incentives and program features for developers and municipalities seeking to rehabilitate historic buildings, and is hoped to advance redevelopment and economic stimulus goals throughout New York State. An economic impact study predicts that the enhanced rehabilitation tax credit will spur over $500 million dollars of economic activity in New York State and create some 2,000 jobs over its initial five-year lifespan.

Rensselaer County Historical Society Threatened
The Rensselaer County Historical Society announced in March that they may be forced to close due to economic hardship. &#8220RCHS is currently experiencing severe financial difficulty,&#8221 officials at the Society told their supporters, &#8220The organization been running annual deficits for several years, and despite special efforts, the situation has now become critical. In a matter of weeks RCHS will no longer have funds available to meet its basic operating needs.&#8221 RCHS is still holding on, but the economic crisis appears far from over.

Coney Island’s Demise Hastened
A major debate raged this year about the future of Coney Island. Thor Equities (a development company) has purchased large tracts of land in the reknown seaside resort of yore, and the City Planning Commission passed a radical rezoning to encourage economic redevelopment &#8211 a plan vehemently opposed by preservation interests. This year Coney lost landmarks like Astroland and Major Meats on Mermaid Avenue. Deno’s Wonder Wheel Amusement Park may be next as the park has sold it’s popular Thunderbolt ride late last year. In December the grassroots activist group Save Coney Island, along with several Coney Island residents and amusement district workers and performers filed a lawsuit challenging the Bloomberg administration’s rezoning of Coney Island’s amusement area. It may be the only hope of saving an American landmark.

New York Writers Institute’s 25th Anniversary
2009 marked the 25th Anniversary of one of New York State’s most important literary institutions. Since 1984, more than 1,000 novelists, poets, biographers, filmmakers, historians, essayists and creative artists have presented a wide ranging variety of performance, readings, workshops, seminars, and other public events. Since the Institute was started by writer and historian William Kennedy (using some of his MacArthur award prize money) more then a quarter million people have attended its events.

War of 1812 Bill Vetoed
Governor David Paterson vetoed a bill that would have created a commission to organize and promote bi-national events related to the War of 1812&#8242-s 200th anniversary. Paterson said the expense, which he put at about $2.25 million by 2016, was &#8220not absolutely necessary&#8221 in light of a then-looming state. Supporters however, pointed out that the bill did not require a budget appropriation, but would provide a structure of volunteers to coordinate commemorative events.

150th Commemoration of John Brown Events Planned

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Margaret Gibbs, Director of the Essex County Historical Society / Adirondack History Center Museum in Elizabethtown has sent along the following notice of the 150th Commemoration of John Brown scheduled for December 6th. Regular readers of my other online project Adirondack Almanack know that I have been writing a series of posts on John Brown, his anti-slavery raid on Harpers Ferry Virginia, subsequent capture, trial, and execution. You can read the entire series here.

Here is the press release outlining the commemoration events:

On Sunday, December 6, 2009 the Adirondack History Center Museum is commemorating John Brown on the 150th anniversary of his death and the return of his body to Essex County. Events are scheduled in Westport and Elizabethtown in recognition of the role Essex County citizens played at the time of the return of John Brown’s body to his final resting place in North Elba. In the cause of abolition, John Brown raided the U. S. arsenal at Harper’s Ferry, Virginia on the night of October 16, 1859. The raid resulted in the capture of John Brown and the deaths of his sons Oliver & Watson and his sons-in-law William and Dauphin Watson. John Brown was tried in Charles Town, Virginia on charges of treason and inciting slaves to rebellion and murder. He was found guilty and hanged on December 2, 1859.

John Brown’s body was transported from Harper’s Ferry to Vergennes, VT, accompanied by his widow, Mary Brown. From Vermont the body was taken across Lake Champlain by sail ferry to Barber’s Point in Westport, and the journey continued through the Town of Westport and on to Elizabethtown. The funeral cortege arrived in Elizabethtown at 6 o’clock on the evening of December 6th 1859. The body of John Brown was taken to the Essex County Court House and “watched” through the night by four local young men. Mary Brown and her companions spent the night across the street at the Mansion House, now known as the Deer’s Head Inn. On the morning of December 7th the party continued on to North Elba. The burial of John Brown was on December 8th attended by many residents of Essex County.

The commemorative program on December 6th begins at 1:00 pm at the Westport Heritage House with award-winning author Russell Banks reading from his national bestselling novel, Cloudsplitter, about John Brown, his character and his part in the abolitionist movement. The program continues with a lecture by Don Papson, John Brown and the Underground Railroad, on whether or not Brown sheltered runaway slaves at his North Elba farm. Don Papson is the founding President of the North Country Underground Railroad Historical Association. The program continues in Elizabethtown at 3:30 pm at the United Church of Christ with The Language that Shaped the World, a tapestry of sounds, stories and characters portraying the human spirit and the fight for freedom. At 4:30 pm a procession follows John Brown’s coffin from the United Church of Christ to the Old Essex County Courthouse. At 5:00 pm the public may pay their respects at the Old Essex County Courthouse with the coffin lying in state. The program concludes at 5:30 PM with a reception held at the Deer’s Head Inn.

The cost for all events of the day including the Deer’s Head Inn reception is $40 ticket, or a $15 donation covers the programs at the Westport Heritage House and The Language that Shaped the World only. Reservations are requested. The procession and Courthouse are free and open to the public. The Westport Heritage House is located at 6459 Main Street, Westport, NY. The United Church of Christ, is located beside the museum on Court Street, Elizabethtown, NY. For more information, please contact the museum at 518-873-6466 or email [email protected].

The December 6th program is part of a series of events from December 4-8, 2009 presented for the John Brown Coming Home Commemoration through the Lake Placid/Essex County Visitors Bureau. For a complete schedule of events go to www.johnbrowncominghome.com.

John Brown Symposium, Reenactment, Memorial

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A tremendous slate of events has been planned for the Lake Placid-North Eba area to commemorate the life and death of abolitionist John Brown. Dubbed the &#8220John Brown Coming Home Commemoration,&#8221 held from November 4th to December 8th, 2009, the series of events will examine John Brown’s impact on the country leading up to the civil war, the use of violence, and on the ongoing efforts to end slavery and human rights abuses in this country and worldwide- and reenactments of his cortege home, body lying in state at the Essex County Courthouse, burial at his farm, and the memorial service.

Among those taking part in the events will be Kevin Bales, president of Free the Slaves, local author Russell Banks, activist and co-founder of the Weather Underground Bernardine Dohrn, executive director of CORE George Holmes, John Brown descendant Alice Keesey Mecoy, Maria Suarez, who was sold into slavery at the age of 16, Margaret Washington, Sojourner Truth’s America and Louis DeCaro, Jr., author of John Brown: The Cost of Freedom. A full list of events follows.

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 17

Actor actor Fred Morsell will launch the John Brown Coming Home’s Artist Residencies-in-Schools program with a dramatic portrayal of Frederick Douglass in one-man performance based on Douglass’ writings. Called “Frederick Douglass: A Soul’s Evolution,” the piece will include excerpts from Douglass’ homage to John Brown that Douglass delivered in Harpers Ferry in 1881 in which Douglass declared that Brown “began the war that ended American slavery, and made this a free Republic.” This event is limited to the participating schools, currently Crown Point, Keene, Keesville, Lake Placid Central, Moriah, Newcomb and Westport.

Students, representing age groups and disciplines, working with professional artists representing different mediums—poetry, dance, songwriting, drama and drumming&#8211will create personal works in response to their examination of the life, the times and the legacy of abolitionist John Brown at a culminating event at the Lake Placid Center for the Arts on December 4, and at their respective schools thereafter.

FRIDAY NOVEMBER 20

7:30 PM, Lake Placid Center for the Arts, Algonquin Drive, Lake Placid, NY
Film: John Brown’s Holy War

Produced for PBS’s American Experience, drawing upon interviews with historians and writers, including novelist Russell Banks, and stunning reenactments, Robert Kenner’s film traces Brown’s obsessive battle against human bondage that in the end sparked the Civil War. A post screening discussion will be held. This event is presented by the Lake Placid Center for the Arts.

SUNDAY NOVEMBER 22
3:00 PM, 511 Gallery, 2461 Main Street, Lake Placid

Have You Seen that Vigilante Man?, a lecture by Amy Godine and presented by the Lake Placid Institute for the Arts & Humanities

Night Riders, lynch mobs and vigilante justice… The darkest side of American mob justice was not confined to the Deep South and the Far West. The history of the Adirondacks is ablaze with incidents of so-called “frontier justice,” from mob attacks on radical abolitionists to “townie” raids on striking immigrant labors to anti-Catholic gatherings of the Klu Klux Klan. Amy Godine’s anecdotal history of Adirondack vigilantism explores a regional legacy with deep, enduring, toxic roots.

Curator of the traveling exhibition, &#8220Dreaming of Timbuctoo,&#8221 independent scholar Amy Godine is a contributor to the regional anthologies, The Second Adirondack Reader and Rooted in Rock, and a regular writer on ethnic history for Adirondack Life.

FRIDAY DECEMBER 4
5:00 p.m., Lake Placid Center for the Arts, 17 Algonquin Drive, Lake Placid

Culminating event of the John Brown Coming Homes Artist Residencies-in-Schools program (see November 17)

7:30 PM (reception to follow)

Slavery: An exploration through contemporary film, lead by JW Wiley, Director of the Center for Diversity, Pluralism, and Inclusion for State University of New York-Plattsburgh. Narrative and documentary filmmakers have captured contemporary situations that are equal too the personal experiences that motivated John Brown. This presentation will use film clips from their work to explore the broad context of racism in the era of Brown. Wiley writes, “situating the reality of his life in the midst of the racist times he lived will provide opportunities for us to speculate and examine some of his potential motivations for the monumentally historic actions he took.” This event is presented by the Adirondack Film Society

SATURDAY DECEMBER 5
High Peaks Resort, 2384 Saranac Avenue, Lake Placid, NY

Symposium on the Life and Legacy of John Brown

The purpose of the symposium is to investigate the whole person, John Brown, including the experiences and faith that shaped him- the pre Civil War reality for African-Americans, both in slavery and seeking to end slavery- the post Civil War era for African-Americans- Brown’s ongoing influence on those who have tried to foster social change- and to examine and understand slavery today and create discussion around the question, Is violence ever justified?

Morning

9:00 AM Opening Keynote: Margaret Washington: The African American Experience. Professor Margaret Washington, Cornell authority on the black experience. Recent work: Sojourner Truth’s America. Articles include, From Motives of Delicacy: Sexuality and Morality in the Narratives of Sojourner Truth and Harriet Jacobs, Journal of African American History, and Rachel Weeping for Her Children.

10:00 AM Presentation: Rev, Dr. Louis DeCaro, Jr.: John Brown, A Man of His Times, Assistant Professor of History at Theology at Alliance Theological Seminary, works include the collection of essays John Brown Remembered, and books John Brown&#8211the Cost of Freedom, and Fire from the Midst of You: A Religious Life of John Brown.

Break

11:15 AM

Presentation: Slavery in our Time

Kevin Bales. Author: Disposable People: New Slavery in the Global Economy (nominated for Pulitzer), Understanding Global Slavery and Ending Slavery: How We Free Today’s Slaves. Expert on modern slavery, president of Free the Slaves, Board of Directors of the International Cocoa Initiative.

Maria Suarez, a social worker and advocate to end human trafficking, who was sold into and lived in slavery in the United States for 5 years beginning when she was sixteen years old and freed only when a neighbor killed her captor, but then wrongly imprisoned for that death and eventually pardoned.

Lunch on own

Afternoon

1:30 PM Panel: John Brown’s Legacy

Moderator: Russell Banks- Novels include: Affliction, The Sweet Hereafter, both also critically-acclaimed movies- The Book of Jamaica Continental Drift, Rule of the Bone, a historical novel about abolitionist John Brown, Cloudsplitter, and The Darling. President of Cities of Refuge North America and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, Bank has taught at many colleges and universities including Princeton.

Panelists:

Kevin Bales. Author: Disposable People: New Slavery in the Global Economy (nominated for Pulitzer), Understanding Global Slavery and Ending Slavery: How We Free Today’s Slaves. Expert on modern slavery, president of Free the Slaves, Board of Directors of the International Cocoa Initiative.

Bernardine Dohrn, activist, academic and child advocate, is Director of the Children and Family Justice Center and Clinical Associate Professor of the Northwestern University School Law, Bluhm Legal Clinic. Dohrn was a national leader of SDS (Students f
or a Democratic Society) and the Weather Underground, and was on the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted List for over a decade.

George Holmes, executive director, chief operating officer, Congress of Racial Equality, Coordinated American delegation dispatched to observe and monitor free elections in Nigeria in 1996-97. Organized emergency response team to assist in the World Trade Center collapse.

Alice Keesey Mecoy. Great-great-great granddaughter of abolitionist John Brown has researched her family history for 30 years, especially the women in John Brown’s life, dedicated to war against slavery. Presented her findings to the National Abolition Hall of Fame and Saratoga Historical Museum.

Margaret Washington. Cornell professor Margaret Washington is an authority on the black experience. Recent work: Sojourner Truth’s America. Articles include, From Motives of Delicacy: Sexuality and Morality in the Narratives of Sojourner Truth and Harriet Jacobs, Journal of African American History, and Rachel Weeping for Her Children

J.W. Wiley, Director for the Center for Diversity, Pluralism, and Inclusion at State University of New York &#8211 Plattsburgh and a lecturer in philosophy and minority studies. Works to implement strategies and policies for inclusion and diversity.

4:00 PM

His Spirit Lives On

John Brown’s Farm State Historic Site

Walk to the John Brown’s Grave along Old John Brown Road

Laying of Wreath at John Brown’s Grave

lead by Roy Innis, National President of C.O.R.E.

7:30 PM

Site: Adirondack Community Church

Tribute to Russell Banks

Presentation of the first Adirondack Arts and Humanities Award to author Russell Banks- author William Kennedy master of ceremonies followed by a gospel concert

SUNDAY DECEMBER 6

10 AM

Re-enactment of the bringing of John Brown’s Cortege across Lake Champlain from Button Bay Park, VT to Westport, NY by the Weatherwax, a replica of a 19th century sail ferry similar to the one used to bring Mary Brown, leading abolitionists and the body of her husband.

12:00 Noon

Westport Heritage Center, Westport, NY

JOHN BROWN AND THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD
Lecture by Don Papson

John Brown sacrificed his life at Harper’s Ferry, Virginia in 1859 attempting to establish an Underground Railroad Passageway through the Appalachian Mountains. For 150 years historians have wondered whether or not Brown sheltered runaway slaves at his North Elba farm in New York’s Adirondack Mountains. Some local 20th century historians concluded that there was no Underground Railroad activity at North Elba and that all of Brown’s black neighbors were “ordinary” “free” “New Yorkers.” Social historian Don Papson has discovered documents suggesting that the truth may have been an entirely different story.

Don Papson is the founding President of the North Country Underground Railroad Historical Association and Curator for the North Star Underground Railroad Museum, which will open at Ausable Chasm in 2010.

Lecture followed by a 19th century luncheon. John Brown’s casket will have been brought up to the church prior to the presentation.

Event presented by the Adirondack History Center Museum (tickets required)

2:00 PM

John Brown’s casket brought to Old Stone Church in Elizabethtown

3:00 PM

Old Stone Church, Elizabethtown

Dramatic readings from Cloudsplitter by Russell Banks- poetry readings- musical presentations

Adirondack History Center Museum Open, appropriate exhibits on display

4:30 PM

Procession of John Brown’s coffin from Old Stone Church to Essex County Courthouse. Event presented by the Adirondack History Center Museum

5:00 PM

Essex County Courthouse

Coffin laid in state, honor guard, candles, public may bear witness through the evening

5:30 PM

Deer’s Head Inn

Reception presented by the Adirondack History Center Museum (tickets required)

MONDAY DECEMBER 7

3:00 PM

John Brown Farm State Historic Site, Lake Placid, NY

Returning Home

John Brown’s coffin is brought to the Farm. The procession will begin on Rte 73, continue up Old Military Road and along John Brown Road and end at the Farm with the placement of the coffin the in Farmhouse for the evening.

4:00 PM

Coffin arrives at Farm

6:00 PM

John Brown Farm State Historic Site

The Sword of the Spirit, by Magpie

Greg Artzner and Terry Leonino, better known as Magpie, one of the premier folk music duos in America today, will present their stirring collection of songs that reflect on the life, death and turbulent times of abolitionist John Brown, his family and followers. Sword of the Spirit, traces the story of one of the most controversial figures in our nation’s history whose rage against slavery led him to his daring and violent raid on the US Army Arsenal at Harper’s Ferry in 1859 that became one of the sparks that helped ignite the war between the states. Making history come alive is one thing. To do it through words and music takes a special talent. Magpie handles the task beautifully with upbeat themes, delightful harmonies and thrilling anthems. Here is music with depth, relevance and topnotch songwriting.

TUESDAY DECEMBER 8

11:00 AM

Memorial Service begins at John Brown’s Farm

Re-enactors for: Wendell Phillips, co-leader on American Anti-Slavery Society

Reverend Joshua Young, L Bigelow, Mary Brown

11:45 PM

Service ends with ringing of the bells in churches throughout the region.

Post event reception at Uihlein Farm (invitation required)

RESERVATIONS FOR SYMPOSIUM AND TRIBUTE
Kristin Strack
Reservations Manager
518-523-2445 ext109
Email: [email protected] JOHN BROWN 150th COMMEMORATION

John Brown Anniversary Exhibit at NY Historical Society

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When John Brown led his now-legendary raid on the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia, in 1859, hoping to secure weapons for a slave insurrection, he failed in his immediate goal but succeeded in raising tensions to a fever pitch between pro-slavery and anti-slavery forces. The conflict he had intensified, and which he had now come to symbolize, would lead by 1861 to secession and civil war.

One hundred and fifty years after John Brown’s raid, the New-York Historical Society in partnership with the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History presents the exhibition John Brown: The Abolitionist and His Legacy, exploring the beliefs, activities and continuing significance of this critical figure, vilified by some as a murderer and venerated by others as a martyr.

On view from through March 25, 2010, this exhibition of rare materials from the Gilder Lehrman Collection and the New-York Historical Society also sets the stage for the culminating presentation of the Historical Society’s Lincoln Year, with the landmark exhibition Lincoln and New York, opening October 9, 2009.

&#8220John Brown’s attack at Harpers Ferry convinced Southerners that their political and economic survival was threatened, while outrage over his execution rallied and unified Northern abolitionists,” according to Louise Mirrer, President and CEO of the New-York Historical Society. “As we continue our year-long celebration of Abraham Lincoln, we hope these extraordinary and seldom-seen materials will not only shed light on Brown himself but will help illuminate events that led to Lincoln’s election in 1860.&#8221

“John Brown: The Abolitionist and His Legacy examines Brown in the context of growing national divisions over slavery in the 1850s,” commented James G. Basker, President of the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. “Most African Americans and abolitionists saw John Brown as a martyr for a noble and humane cause. Others saw him as a terrorist who attacked legal institutions and was willing to kill to achieve his goals. This exhibition invites people to examine the tension between these divergent views at the critical moment in American history, with repercussions down through the Civil Rights movement of the 20th century.”

John Brown expected that his attack on Harpers Ferry, carried out by both white and black raiders, would inspire enslaved people to escape from plantations across the South. According to his plan, the former slaves would join him in safe havens in the mountains, where he would arm and train them for guerrilla warfare. The loss of slaves and the fear of insurrection would destabilize the South and build political support in the North.

On Sunday, October 16, 1859, Brown led twenty-one men (sixteen of them white and five black) to Harpers Ferry, Virginia, where they captured the armory, arsenal and rifle factory. A local mob quickly surrounded the town, preventing the raiders from escaping, while federal troops led by Robert E. Lee rushed to the scene. On Tuesday, October 18, soldiers successfully stormed the stronghold, seriously wounding Brown. He was tried and convicted of inciting slave insurrection, treason against Virginia, and murder. Before being hanged on December 2, 1859, Brown wrote prophetically: “I, John Brown, am now quite certain that the crimes of this guilty land will never be purged away but with blood.”

Visitors to the exhibition will encounter manuscripts never before exhibited, including dramatic letters by John Brown to his followers- a letter by Frederick Douglass praising Brown but distancing himself from the raid- Brown’s parting words on the eve of his execution- a letter from the mother of a Kansas murder victim, damning Brown on the scaffold- and reminiscences by Brown’s children and other eyewitnesses.

Lending dramatic context to these materials are powerful images, such as the 1859 sculpture “The Slave Auction” by John Rogers- the heroic 1867 painting by Thomas Satterwhite Noble, &#8220John Brown’s Blessing&#8221- photographs of Brown and his family members- photographs of his supporters, the &#8220Secret Six&#8221- and photographs of other key participants. Among the other important objects on view will be a &#8220John Brown Still Lives!&#8221 broadside from 1859- a rare printing of the Emancipation Proclamation- a 1926 lynching poster- and other artifacts of the Jim Crow and Civil Rights eras.
The majority of the objects in the exhibition are drawn from the Gilder Lehrman Collection, currently on deposit at the New-York Historical Society.

First Of Several Local John Brown Events On Saturday

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This year marks the 150th anniversary of abolitionist John Brown’s anti-slavery raid on Harpers Ferry, Virginia, his subsequent execution and the return of his body to North Elba, Essex County, NY.

Over at Adirondack Almanack I’ve been writing a series of posts &#8211 The Last Days of John Brown &#8211 to commemorate Brown’s struggle to end slavery in America, and both here and at the Almanack I’ll be reporting on events as the anniversary approaches. So far local activities include a lecture, a symposium, and a reenactment of the return of Brown’s body to North Elba. It all kicks off with a lecture this Saturday, October 10th, with a lecture by historian Zoe Trodd at 2:00 PM, at John Brown’s Farm.

Here is the event announcement:

A Living Legacy: John Brown in the Anti-Lynching Protest Tradition, a lecture by Zoe Trodd. Protest writers have long pointed to the abolitionist past as central to present and future social change. At the heart was of this living legacy was one figure: John Brown. This lecture will trace the presence of Brown in anti-lynching literature from the Niagara Movement to Langston Hughes. Trodd is the author of Meteor of War: The John Brown Story- American Protest Literature- and The Tribunal: Responses to John Brown and the Harper’s Ferry Raid. This event is presented by John Brown Lives!

Conference on John Brown and the Legacies of Violence

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Yale University’s Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition will host John Brown, Slavery, and the Legacies of Revolutionary Violence in Our Own Time: A Conference Commemorating the 150th Anniversary of the Harpers Ferry Raid on Oct 29-31, 2009 at the university’s campus in New Haven, CT.

Discussions of the place of violence-its forms, its causes, its justice or injustice-in American history often begin with John Brown and his exploits in Kansas and at Harpers Ferry, Virginia, in the 1850s. Brown’s image has been appropriated by groups from the left and the right. He is a historical as well as a legendary figure, and often the myth overshadows the reality. This conference will explore the meaning and memory of John Brown as well as the problem of violence in American culture, past and present.

The conference will open on the evening of Thursday, October 29 with a performance of John Brown: Trumpet of Freedom by actor and playwright Norman Marshall. On Friday, October 30 and Saturday, October 31, conference panels will focus on four major themes:

. John Brown: A Problem in Biography

. John Brown and the Arts

. John Brown and the Legacies of Violence

. John Brown and Abolitionism

. Concluding Roundtable: A Problem for Our Own Time

For information on the conference visit: http://www.yale.edu/glc/john-brown/index.htm

150th Anniversary of John Browns Raid Conference / Symposium

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John Brown Remembered: 150th Anniversary of John Brown’s Raid is the title of a conference / symposium that will be held October 14 -17, 2009 at the Harpers Ferry National Historical Park in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia. Speakers will include David Blight, Spencer Crew, and Paul Finkelman.

Harpers Ferry National Historical Park, along with other partners, is hosting this multidisciplinary academic symposium on John Brown and his 1859 raid on Harpers Ferry. The symposium, which will be held at the Stephen T. Mather Training Center in Harpers Ferry, is hoped to stimulate new and diverse academic research, scholarship, and debate.

A schedule and registration details can be found here.

Rochester Abolitionist John Doy

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American Heritage has an interesting article on John Brown associate John Doy of Rochester. Here’s an excerpt:

John Doy, a physician from Rochester, New York, heeded the call from abolitionist societies and moved to Kansas in July 1854. A full-bearded and serious-looking man, Doy helped found the town of Lawrence and built a house on its outskirts, where his wife and nine children joined him. As a bastion of free-soil sympathies, Lawrence became a target of pro-slavers, who sacked it on May 21, 1856. In retaliation, the abolitionist firebrand John Brown and his men murdered five slave owners near Pottawatomie Creek. Three months later Doy fought alongside Brown in a pitched battle at Osawatomie, 60 miles southeast of Lawrence.

Kansas became increasingly dangerous for African Americans, so on January 18, 1859, a group of Lawrence’s citizens raised money to help blacks move to safety. Brown offered to take one group north to Canada and did so without incident. Doy also volunteered to help by taking another group about 60 miles northwest to the town of Holton, the first step on the road to Iowa. His passage proved less fortunate.

Among the African Americans on Doy’s expedition were Wilson Hayes and Charles Smith, cooks at a Lawrence hotel. Doy knew that both of them were free men, although they had no papers. All the others had their “free papers,” including William Riley, who had been kidnapped once before from Lawrence but had managed to escape.

The piece offers an interesting look at one of teh many upstate New Yorkers who traveled west during the Kansas-Missouri Border War.