News stories tagged with "slavery"

(05/02/12) Frederick Douglass' great-great-great grandson will be the keynote speaker at the annual John Brown Day celebration this Saturday at the historic John Brown Farm in Lake Placid. Ken Morris will talk about the friendship and legacy of Douglass and fellow abolitionist John Brown. The two first met in Massachusetts in 1848, a decade after Douglass escaped from slavery on a Maryland plantation.

Ken Morris is founder and president of the Frederick Douglas Family Foundation, a service learning organization that works to create a modern abolitionist movement in schools across the country. Morris is also the great-great grandson of Booker T. Washington. Before dedicating his career to social issues, Morris managed a successful marketing and entertainment firm. But he told Todd Moe that he spent his teen years, "decisively disengaged from his family lineage."

(04/24/12) Todd Moe talks with Syracuse University historian Milton Sernett, an expert on African American history. He'll give two talks in Canton on Thursday on Harriet Tubman, and the Underground Railroad in northern New York. Todd talks with him about how Tubman became the dominant symbol of the Underground Railroad and is still an inspiration today for many Americans.

(12/03/10) This morning in Lake Placid, teachers and historians and activists begin a two-day conference to talk about slavery.

New Yorkers played a big role in the slave trade in the 18th and 19th centuries, financing and profiting from an industry that ruined the lives of more than 12 million Africans.

Slave-owning wasn't banned in this state until 1827. Modern-day activists say human trafficking and exploitation is once again on the rise.

Martha Swan is with a group called John Brown Lives.

She told Brian Mann that this conference, which is open to the public, will explore the history and present-day reality of slavery. more

(07/23/10) Author, educator and artist Nell Irvin Painter spoke at the Elizabethtown County Courthouse on Sunday. She read selections from her new book, "The History of White People," and fielded questions from the audience. The talk was part of a series sponsored by modern day anti-slavery organizations John Brown Lives! and John Brown Coming Home. Sarah Harris attended and has our story.

(03/02/10) Protesters will gather in Albany tomorrow to try to save dozens of New York state parks and historic sites. Governor David Paterson wants to close the parks this spring as part of an effort to cut an $8.2-billion budget deficit. At least nine parks in the North Country are targeted. Historians and civil rights activists are especially furious over the plan to shut down John Browns Farm in Lake Placid. As Brian Mann reports, the burial site of the famous Civil War-era abolitionist has been a pilgrimage site and a symbol of freedom for more than 150 years.

(03/01/10) A group of activists held a small rally at John Browns Farm near Lake Placid yesterday. They urged Governor David Paterson to keep the state park open despite the state's massive budget deficit.

The famous abolitionist was buried on the farm just outside the village after being executed in Virginia for attempting to spark a slave rebellion.

The rally came on the closing day on the 2010 Olympics. Lake Placid Mayor Craig Randall said preserving Brown's final resting place would save an important piece of the town's history. He said it's important to protect not only Lake Placid's Olympic heritage, but it's cultural heritage as well.

State officials want to close nine parks in the North Country as part of an effort aimed to close an $8.2 billion deficit. Brian Mann will have more on this story tomorrow morning during The Eight O'Clock Hour.

(12/02/09) NCPR is media sponsor for John Brown Coming Home: A 150th Commemoration of abolitionist John Brown's life and legacy. Events take place this weekend at a variety of locations in and around Lake Placid, including the John Brown Farm. Cornell scholar Margaret Washington is one of the foremost authorities on the black experience in America. She'll give the keynote speech at a symposium in Lake Placid on Saturday. Her latest book, Sojourner Truth's America, is the story of the unlikely ascendancy of a black woman and former slave who became a rousing preacher and speaker. Washington spoke with Todd Moe about Sojourner Truth and black Americans as leaders in the abolitionist movement in the 19th century.

(10/09/09) Historian Zoe Trodd gives a lecture Saturday afternoon in Lake Placid to mark the 150th anniversary of John Brown's legendary raid at Harpers Ferry, Virginia. That raid struck a blow against slavery. Trodd will talk about the North Country's most famous abolitionist at the John Brown State Historic Site at 2 pm. Her talk kicks off a series of commemorative events this fall that will include a symposium and a reenactment of the return of Brown's body to North Elba. Trodd describes herself as modern-day abolitionist who takes inspiration from John Brown for today's movement against slavery and human trafficking. Todd Moe asked her how Brown is still relevant 150 years after his death.

(05/08/09) This year, communities across the U.S. will commemorate abolitionist John Brown. Brown was hanged 150 years ago, after his famous raid on Harpers Ferry in Virginia. The remembrances begin tomorrow in Lake Placid with events at the John Brown Farm State Historic Site. Later in the year, organizers hope to re-enact the funeral procession that carried Brown's body across Lake Champlain from Vermont and then through Elizabethtown to Lake Placid. Brian Mann first reported on Brown's legacy in 2002.

(01/23/09) A group of SUNY Potsdam students performs an excerpt from Amiri Baraka's play Slave Ship live in NCPR's studios. It chronicles African-American history from the 19th century slave trade to the civil rights and black power struggles of the '60s and '70s. "Slave Ship" will be performed at the Unitarian Universalist Church in Canton next month as part of Black History Month.