PAST EVENTS

NAHOF hosts various events throughout the year. See below for examples
of events we've held in previous years.

2025, 2024, 2023   2022   2021   2020   2019   2018

2023 EVENTS

February 1-28, 2023: Black History Matters

Where: NAHOF's YouTube channel
Free to view!

Black History Matters is an educational series that seeks to highlight historical events in the Black American experience. The videos provide critical context for the ongoing racial justice movements and the persistence of racism in America.

​New videos will be released each day of February at midnight on NAHOF's YouTube channel.

March 2023: Black Women's History

Where: NAHOF's YouTube channel
Free to view!

 Black Women's History is a series of bite-sized informational videos and longer presentations by scholars on historical figures and places that emphasize the crucial role that Black Women have played in American history.​

June 17-19, 2023: Peterboro Freedom Festival - Juneteenth

Where: National Abolition Hall of Fame and Museum, 5525 Pleasant Valley Road, Peterboro 13134
Tickets: Book your spot via Eventbrite

Join the National Abolition Hall of Fame in celebrating Juneteenth, which commemorates the emancipation of enslaved people in the United States.

Saturday June 17

• Dawn - dusk: Gerrit Smith Estate National Historic Landmark exterior exhibits open (5304 Oxbow Road, Peterboro NY 13134)
• 2pm: Presentation on Honoring World War Casualties of Madison County by Matthew Urtz
• 2:40pm: Presentation on Freedom Road: Bicycle Explorations and Reckonings on the Underground Railroad by David Goodrich
• 3:20pm: Presentation on Dreams of Freedom by Marilyn Higgins
• 4pm: Presentation on The Most Absolute Abolition: Runaway, Vigilance Committees and the Rise of Revolutionary Abolitionism by Jesse Olsavsky
• 6pm: Presentation on 1850 Cazenovia Convention Drama by Julia O'Connell PhD & students, SUNY Broome
• 7pm: Film - Songs of Slavery and Emancipation

Sunday June 18

• 10am: Guided tour of the Gerrit Smith Estate National Historic Landmark (5304 Oxbow Road, Peterboro NY 13134).
• 12pm: NAHOF Ongoing Abolition Committee & Madison County Antiracism Collaborative
• 2pm: Celebrating the Class Reunion of the Abolition Inductees of 2005. The inductees (given voice by scholars who know them well) interact with one another, call to mind the struggle for freedom and reflect on the challenges ahead.
• 2pm - 4pm: Peterboro Area Museum open (4604 Peterboro Road, Peterboro NY 13134).
• 3:30pm: Recognizing Abraham Lincoln.

Monday June 19 (Juneteenth)

• 10am: Guided tour of the Gerrit Smith Estate National Historic Landmark (5304 Oxbow Road, Peterboro NY 13134).
• 12:30pm: Presentation on Walk With Me: A Biography of Fannie Lou Hamer by Kate Clifford Larson PhD
• 1:30pm: Presentation on Teaching White Supremacy: America's Democratic Ordeal and the Forging of our National Identity by Donald Yacovone PhD
• 2:30pm: Presentation on Our Right to Serve: The Black Cadets Who Challenges a President, Changed West Point, Inspired an Army by Ty Siedule

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August 5, 2023: Peterboro Emancipation Day

Where: Gerrit Smith Estate National Historic Landmark

Join the National Abolition Hall of Fame in celebrating Peterboro's 13th annual Emancipation Day celebration.

• 10:00am: Gathering and Processional to Cemetery
• 1:30pm: Amy Godine: The Black Woods: Pursuing Racial Justice on the Adirondack Frontier
• 2:30: John J. Hanrahan: Traveling Freedom's Road: A Guide to Our Civil Rights History
• 3:30pm: Norman K.Dann PhD: Guided Tour of Gerrit Smith Estate National Historic Landmark

For more information, view the event flyer and visit www.gerritsmith.org.

October 21, 2023: 2nd Annual Abolitionist Freedom Walk

Where: The Walk is from Canastota to Clockville and back (5.4 miles - 2 hrs)

Join the National Abolition Hall of Fame and the Museum of Peterboro in tracing a portion of the footsteps of the 104 brave souls who escaped an angry mob of anti-abolitionists in Utica in 1835, embarked on an Erie Canal lumber barge to Canastota, and climbed the trail to Peterboro where they formed the New York State Anti-Slavery Society.
​

• 8:30am: Opening remarks/musical performances in Canastota
• 9:00am: Walk (or coach ride) to Clockville begins
• 10:00am: Refreshments/reenactments in Clockville
• 11:30am: Abolition Road party in Canastota

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For more information on the walk, including a map of the route, a detailed schedule for the day and how to register and/or become an event sponsor, visit www.abolitionroad.org.

December 31, 2023: 12th Annual Peterboro New York Watch Night

Where: Smithfield Community Center, 5255 Pleasant Valley Road, Peterboro 13134
Tickets: Free! All welcome.

Join us in commemorating Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, issued January 1, 1863. We have a program of activities planned:

• 11:00am: Tour of National Abolition Hall of Fame and Museum; Navy service stories by Owen Corpin
• 12:00pm: Light lunch (soup, sandwiches, pastries)
• 1:00pm: Announcements, songs, proceed to Watch Fire

Read the event press release for more information about Watch Night.

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