BLACK HISTORY IN UPSTATE NEW YORK
A series of bite-sized informational videos and longer presentations by scholars on historical figures and places that emphasize the crucial role Black Americans have played in the history of Upstate New York.
1: Welcome to Black History in Upstate New York
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Victoria Basulto, Colgate University graduate and Summer 2021 Projects for Peace Fellow, will introduce the series and speak briefly on the history of Black Americans in Upstate New York. She will introduce movements like abolitionism and women's suffrage, all of which will be central themes in the program.
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2: Introducing Harriet Tubman and Auburn, New York
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In this introductory video, Basulto will overview Harriet Tubman's life and the spaces she traversed before arriving in the finger lakes region of Upstate New York, where she would make her home for about 50 years of life.
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3: Harriet Tubman's Promised Land in Auburn, New York
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Kate Clifford Larson, Ph.D., is a bestselling author and an award-winning historian who has written various biographies on historical figures such as Rosemary Kennedy, Fannie Lou Hamer, and Harriet Tubman. In this presentation, Dr. Larson will speak about Harriet Tubman and her time in Auburn, NY. Additionally, Dr. Larson will describe Tubman's connection to abolitionists and other activists across Upstate New York.
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4: Introducing John W. Jones and Elmira, New York
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Basulto will provide an introduction to the life of John W. Jones, a self-emancipated man who helped hundreds of runaways fleeing slavery escape to freedom. Additionally, Jones' story is remarkable given his role in the respectful burial of nearly 3,000 confederate soldiers. Basulto will also contextualize his story by emphasizing the role of Elmira, NY, in his life story.
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5: Discovering John W. Jones
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President of the John W. Jones Museum Board of Trustees, Talima Aaron, will discuss her journey to discover John W. Jones' voice in the historical records. By walking us through some historical documents in which Jones's voice and personality are present, she will provide further insight into Jones' life. Additionally, Aaron will discuss the work of the John W. Jones Museum in preserving his legacy.
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6: Introducing David Rubbles
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In this video presentation, Basulto will introduce the abolitionist, African American rights activist, business owner, writer, publisher, and underground railroad conductor David Ruggles. She will provide information about his upbringing, his time in New York City, and how he connected with a network of abolitionists in Upstate New York.
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7: David Ruggles and the Underground Railroad
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Graham Hodges, Ph.D., is the George Dorland Langdon Jr. Professor of History and Africana & Latin American Studies at Colgate University. His research specialties include Colonial and American revolutionary history, social history, labor and urban America, New York City history, and Asian American history. He has published several books such as Black New Jersey: 1664 to the Present Day Friends of Liberty: Thomas Jefferson, Thaddeus Kosciusko, and Agrippa Hull, A tale of three patriots, two revolutions, and the tragic betrayal that divided a nation; and David Ruggles: A Radical Black Abolitionist and the Underground Railroad in New York City, among many others. As a biographer of David Ruggles himself, Dr. Hodges will speak about Ruggles' abolitionist work and connection to Upstate New York.
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8: The Quest for Enfranchisement: Timbuctoo
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Basulto will provide an introduction to the settlement of Timbuctoo located in the Adirondacks. She will discuss how in 1846, the abolitionist Gerrit Smith decided to divide and gift 120,000 acres of land to Black Americans living in New York State to enfranchise them. At the time, Black Americans needed to own $250 of real estate to vote in New York State while white men only required $150.
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9: Louisa M. Jacobs and the Universal Suffrage Tour
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Susan Goodier, PhD., is an Assistant Professor of History at the State University of New York at Oneonta and author of No Votes for Women: The New York State Anti- Suffrage Movement and co-author of Women Will Vote: Winning Suffrage in New York State. In this presentation, Dr. Goodier will speak about Louisa Matilda Jacobs, daughter of Harriet Jacobs, who authored Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, and her tour of Upstate New York with the American Equal Rights Association seeking Universal suffrage. Dr. Goodier will speak about the tour, the people who organized and aided it, and the experience of Louisa Jacobs herself. Dr. Goodier will be drawing from current research, specifically from her ongoing manuscript project “Networks of Activism: Black Women in the New York State Suffrage Movement.”
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10: I'll Write Their Names - My Family in Slavery & Slavery in My Writing
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Uncommonly well documented, the story of playwright Kyle Bass’s family in America begins in enslavement. Inspired, compelled, and guided by his ancestors’ journeys from bondage in New England and the American South to freedom, homesteading, and history-making in Upstate New York, Bass, the author of the critically acclaimed Possessing Harriet, discusses what it means to be an African American writer with a deep connection to the past and a place. Kyle Bass is the author of Possessing Harriet, commissioned by the Onondaga Historical Association, which premiered at Syracuse Stage in 2018, was produced by Franklin Stage Company in 2019, and will be produced by East Lynne Theater Company in 2022. Professor Bass is Assistant Professor of Theater at Colgate University, Associate Artistic Director at Syracuse Stage, and was the 2019/20 Susan P. Stroman Visiting Playwright at the University of Delaware.
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11: Heaven and Peterboro
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Norman K. Dann is a researcher and biographer of Gerrit Smith and the head docent at the Gerrit Smith Estate National Historic Landmark located in Peterboro, NY. He will end the "Black History in Upstate New York series" with a presentation whose title was inspired by the abolitionist Rev. Henry Highland Garnet, who is quoted as having said to Frederick Douglass, ‘There are yet two places where slaveholders cannot come, Heaven and Peterboro." Dann will discuss the history of the Gerrit Smith Estate, located in Peterboro, as a stop in the Underground Railroad and some of the individuals who came across its grounds.
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