JOIN US AT AN EVENT

NAHOF hosts various events throughout the year. We also promote events by others that are of interest and relate to the abolitionist movement.

 UPCOMING EVENTS

October 18~20, 2024: National Abolition Hall of Fame & Museum
Induction Weekend

Where: Smithfield Community Center, 5255 Pleasant Valley Road, Peterboro 1313
​Download Registration Form here.

Inductees

Catharine White Coffin   •   Levi Coffin    •   Leonard Andrew Grimes   •   James McCune Smith

Friday, October 18, 2024    

• 7 pm North to Freedom, an original documentary film, 

Saturday, October 19, 2024    

• 1~5 pm  Abolition Symposia A program on each of the abolitionist inductees will be presented.
• 5 pm Antislavery Dinner (Reservations Required)
• 7 pm Induction Ceremonies and Presentation of the Inductee Banners

Sunday, October 20, 2024        

• 9 am ​Cazenovia Convention and the Fugitive Slave Law (9 Sullivan Street    Cazenovia NY 13035)

Download Registration Form here.

For more info visit www.peterborony.org/events/nahof-induction-ceremony-2024
PO Box 55 , 5255 Pleasant Valley Road, Peterboro NY 13134  
​[email protected] 315.380.1890

PAST EVENTS

October 5, 2024: 3rd Annual Abolition Walk

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

We'll trace 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.

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

5 July 2024, 7pm: What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?

Where: National Abolition Hall of Fame and Museum, 5255 Pleasant Valley Road, Peterboro NY 13134
Free!

Owen D. Corpin, a native and current resident of Peterboro NY, whose family heritage traces directly to former slaves freed by the local abolitionist Gerrit Smith, will deliver parts of one of Frederick Douglass’ most famous speeches.
​
View the full media release.

CANCELLED - June 19 2024, 7:30pm: Juneteenth

Where: Smithfield Community Center, 5255 Pleasant Valley Road, Peterboro NY 13134
Free!

The National Abolition Hall of Fame and Museum invites the public to an evening with Milton C.Sernett PhD when he presents Juneteenth: A Time of History and Reflection. Following the distribution of the United States Emancipation Timeline, brief video presentations will help explain Juneteenth 1865 as one of the many steps toward emancipation. Dr. Sernett will lead the times of reflections and discussions.

​View a timeline of emancipation in the United States, and view the full media release.

February 1-29 2024: 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. View the full programme.

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.

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

​
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.

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.

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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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.​

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.

View details of events from previous years.

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