2025 EVENTS
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The National Abolition Hall of Fame
& Museum announces its fifth year of BLACK HISTORY MATTERS
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Feb. 1: Introduction to Theme and Format
Feb. 3: The New York Slave Revolt of 1712 Feb. 5: The First Black-Owned Newspaper: Freedom’s Journal Feb. 7: The Boston Vigilance Committee Feb. 10: The Salem Female Anti-Slavery Society Feb. 12: New York State Convention of Colored Citizens Feb. 14: The Amistad Case Feb. 17: The Formation of Weeksville Feb. 19: The Black Regiment at the Battle of Rhode Island Feb. 21: The Niagara Movement and the NAACP Feb. 24: The Draft Riots and the Limitations of Freed |
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Wednesdays in May&June
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Wednesday, May 7, 2025 Peter Smith: Furs, Land, and Anguish examines Peter Smith, the land speculator partner of John Jacob Astor, who dealt with Native Americans to establish a land sales business in the late 1700s in upstate New York. Although selfish and avaricious, Smith laid the financial foundation for the future human rights work of the Gerrit and Ann Smith family.
Wednesday, May 14, 2025, The Era and the Issues is a survey of social life in 19th Century America with emphasis placed on racism and sexism. Black people and women were thought to be inferior mentally and physically. In collaboration with the Underground Railroad Consortium of New York State preparing for the commemoration of the Abolition of Enslavement in New York State in 2027, this session will address the 2025 theme of Enslavement in New York State.
Wednesday, May 21, 2025 Gerrit Smith: The Practical Dreamer examines Gerrit’s benevolence and philanthropy in his perusal of human rights movements. Gerrit operated the land sales business started by Peter in order to have the resources to lubricate social change in the direction of equitable treatment of all persons. Smith believed his wealth was “a divine gift to give away.”
Wednesday, May 28, 2025 Ann Carroll Fitzhugh Smith: Support Services Agent scrutinizes Ann’s support of Gerrit’s human rights activism while acting as a “First Lady” in their home that served as a group therapy center for human rights activists.
Wednesday, June 4, 2025 Elizabeth Smith Miller: Quiet Advocate examines Elizabeth’s relationship with her cousin Elizabeth Cady (Stanton) and their work together for equal rights for women. For Miller the issues of dress reform, suffrage, and education for young women were primary, especially in collaboration with her daughter Anne Fitzhugh Miller.
Wednesday, June 11, 2025 Greene Smith: Rebel and Outdoorsman illustrates Greene’s life as an example of the clash in the mid-1800s between religion and science - the sacred and secular. After achieving national recognition as an ornithologist and sportsman, Greene died at an early age.
Wednesday, June 18, 2025 Underground Railroad is an examination of the moral significance of the UGRR as a process of achieving freedom, including reasons for escaping, the risks incurred, and the efficacy of the attempt to escape. This session will lead into Peterboro Juneteenth 2025 programming the following day.
Wednesday, June 25, 2025 Cousins of Reform: Smith and Stanton Gerrit Smith and Elizabeth Cady Stanton were cousins and the two most powerful leaders of the two most important social movements for human rights in American history. Their close loving bond did not deter their strong political debates.
Dr. Dann, professor emeritus Morrisville State College 1966 -1999, served in the U.S. Navy, received an M.A. in Political Science at the University of Rhode Island, and a doctorate in Interdisciplinary Social Sciences from Syracuse University. He is a founder of the National Abolition Hall of Fame and Museum, and the Gerrit Smith Estate National Historic Landmark, and is treasurer of the Peterboro Area Museum.
Wednesday, May 14, 2025, The Era and the Issues is a survey of social life in 19th Century America with emphasis placed on racism and sexism. Black people and women were thought to be inferior mentally and physically. In collaboration with the Underground Railroad Consortium of New York State preparing for the commemoration of the Abolition of Enslavement in New York State in 2027, this session will address the 2025 theme of Enslavement in New York State.
Wednesday, May 21, 2025 Gerrit Smith: The Practical Dreamer examines Gerrit’s benevolence and philanthropy in his perusal of human rights movements. Gerrit operated the land sales business started by Peter in order to have the resources to lubricate social change in the direction of equitable treatment of all persons. Smith believed his wealth was “a divine gift to give away.”
Wednesday, May 28, 2025 Ann Carroll Fitzhugh Smith: Support Services Agent scrutinizes Ann’s support of Gerrit’s human rights activism while acting as a “First Lady” in their home that served as a group therapy center for human rights activists.
Wednesday, June 4, 2025 Elizabeth Smith Miller: Quiet Advocate examines Elizabeth’s relationship with her cousin Elizabeth Cady (Stanton) and their work together for equal rights for women. For Miller the issues of dress reform, suffrage, and education for young women were primary, especially in collaboration with her daughter Anne Fitzhugh Miller.
Wednesday, June 11, 2025 Greene Smith: Rebel and Outdoorsman illustrates Greene’s life as an example of the clash in the mid-1800s between religion and science - the sacred and secular. After achieving national recognition as an ornithologist and sportsman, Greene died at an early age.
Wednesday, June 18, 2025 Underground Railroad is an examination of the moral significance of the UGRR as a process of achieving freedom, including reasons for escaping, the risks incurred, and the efficacy of the attempt to escape. This session will lead into Peterboro Juneteenth 2025 programming the following day.
Wednesday, June 25, 2025 Cousins of Reform: Smith and Stanton Gerrit Smith and Elizabeth Cady Stanton were cousins and the two most powerful leaders of the two most important social movements for human rights in American history. Their close loving bond did not deter their strong political debates.
Dr. Dann, professor emeritus Morrisville State College 1966 -1999, served in the U.S. Navy, received an M.A. in Political Science at the University of Rhode Island, and a doctorate in Interdisciplinary Social Sciences from Syracuse University. He is a founder of the National Abolition Hall of Fame and Museum, and the Gerrit Smith Estate National Historic Landmark, and is treasurer of the Peterboro Area Museum.
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October 11, 2025
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The firsthand account of the October 21, 1825, canal boat ride from Utica to Canastota - followed by a nine mile walk up the hill to Peterboro for an abolition meeting - was provided by James Caleb Jackson from Mexico in Oswego NY. He attended that October 22, 1835, inaugural meeting of the New York State Antislavery Society and then moved to Peterboro in 1838 to work with Gerrit Smith in the abolition movement. His residence in Peterboro is one of the sites on the 2006 Madison County Freedom Trail. He lectured on abolition for a short time in Massachusetts and became corresponding secretary for the Massachusetts Antislavery Society. Jackson came back to Peterboro in 1842. He became secretary of the American Anti-Slavery Society in 1840, and published antislavery newspapers including The Albany Patriot, The Liberty Press, and the Madison County Abolitionist in Cazenovia. Jackson was also the inventor of granula. When Kelloggs in Battle Creek began producing the same cereal with the same name, there was a lawsuit- at which time Kelloggs started making granola!
The National Abolition Hall of Fame and Museum invites folks to join the Jacksons to follow in their ancestor’s footsteps from the “brink of the canal” on Saturday, October 11, 2025, at 102 South Peterboro Street in Canastota NY. Registration starts at 8:00 am. The launch program is at 9:00 am, and the sheriff-escorted walk steps off at 9:30 am traveling along The Oxbow at an easy group pace for 2.7 miles to Clockville, where David Sadler, Town of Lincoln Historian, will speak to the recently installed Pomeroy sign in recognition of the abolitionists who walked there in 1835. The walk returns to Canastota for a party at Erie Canal Brewing. A bus is at ready for registrants unable to manage all or part of the walk along Abolition Road.
The National Abolition Hall of Fame and Museum invites folks to join the Jacksons to follow in their ancestor’s footsteps from the “brink of the canal” on Saturday, October 11, 2025, at 102 South Peterboro Street in Canastota NY. Registration starts at 8:00 am. The launch program is at 9:00 am, and the sheriff-escorted walk steps off at 9:30 am traveling along The Oxbow at an easy group pace for 2.7 miles to Clockville, where David Sadler, Town of Lincoln Historian, will speak to the recently installed Pomeroy sign in recognition of the abolitionists who walked there in 1835. The walk returns to Canastota for a party at Erie Canal Brewing. A bus is at ready for registrants unable to manage all or part of the walk along Abolition Road.
Cancelled due to weather
A facsimile of the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, a gift from the New York State Museum, will be on exhibit at the National Abolition Hall of Fame and Museum (NAHOF) at 11:00 am Wednesday, December 31 at 5255 Pleasant Valley Road, Peterboro NY 13134.
On September 22, 1862, following the Union victory at Antietam, President Lincoln issued the document ordering that in 100 days the federal government would deem all slaves free in those states still rebelling against the Union. The Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation is the only surviving Proclamation document in Lincoln’s own hand. Lincoln probably glued in sections of the Congressional Confiscation Act to save time – the fingerprint visible on the first page of the document is probably his own.
In 1864, Lincoln donated the document to the U.S. Sanitary Commission, which raffled it off at the Albany Relief Bazaar to help raise money for the Union war effort. Abolitionist Gerrit Smith won the raffle after buying 1,000 tickets at $1 apiece. Smith then sold the document to the New York State Legislature, with funds going to the Sanitary Commission. The Legislature, in turn, deposited the document in the New York State Library, where it remains today.
100 days later, on the night of December 31, 1862, enslaved and free African Americans gathered, often at fires, to watch for the news that the Emancipation Proclamation had taken effect.
Since 2012 Owen Corpin has facilitated a commemoration of that Watch Night. The public is invited to participate in all, or parts of, Peterboro Watch Night 2025.
Information: www.PeterboroNY.org, [email protected], and 315.308.1890.
A facsimile of the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, a gift from the New York State Museum, will be on exhibit at the National Abolition Hall of Fame and Museum (NAHOF) at 11:00 am Wednesday, December 31 at 5255 Pleasant Valley Road, Peterboro NY 13134.
On September 22, 1862, following the Union victory at Antietam, President Lincoln issued the document ordering that in 100 days the federal government would deem all slaves free in those states still rebelling against the Union. The Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation is the only surviving Proclamation document in Lincoln’s own hand. Lincoln probably glued in sections of the Congressional Confiscation Act to save time – the fingerprint visible on the first page of the document is probably his own.
In 1864, Lincoln donated the document to the U.S. Sanitary Commission, which raffled it off at the Albany Relief Bazaar to help raise money for the Union war effort. Abolitionist Gerrit Smith won the raffle after buying 1,000 tickets at $1 apiece. Smith then sold the document to the New York State Legislature, with funds going to the Sanitary Commission. The Legislature, in turn, deposited the document in the New York State Library, where it remains today.
100 days later, on the night of December 31, 1862, enslaved and free African Americans gathered, often at fires, to watch for the news that the Emancipation Proclamation had taken effect.
Since 2012 Owen Corpin has facilitated a commemoration of that Watch Night. The public is invited to participate in all, or parts of, Peterboro Watch Night 2025.
- At 11:00, NAHOF will open with exhibits, fellowship, coffee, and finger foods, followed by lunch refreshments at noon.
- At 1:00 Corpin leads a program with history announcements, military stories, a description of the first Watch Night December 31, 1862, and the collaborative reading of the Emancipation Proclamation.
- At 2:30 the event moves down the street to the grounds of the Gerrit Smith Estate National Historic Landmark (5304 Oxbow Road, Peterboro NY 13134) for the ignition of the symbolic Watch Fire for freedom – just steps from the building where Corpin’s ancestors found freedom from enslavement.
- At 4 pm the Lingo Family Singers, reenacting the 19th C. Hutchinson Family Singers who presented songs of reform for abolition, temperance, and suffrage, will present at the Peterboro United Methodist Church, 5240 Pleasant Valley Road, Peterboro NY 13134.
Information: www.PeterboroNY.org, [email protected], and 315.308.1890.
