UGR Workshop

Workshop Descriptions from 2002 Conference

General Outline of Conference

1. Opening Remarks - Mary Liz & Paul Stewart

2. Readers Theater - Hear My Voice, Feel My Tears - UGR Productions

3. Keynote - The Underground Railroad In Eastern New York: A Succinct Historical Composite - Professor A. J. Williams-Myers Black Studies Department, State University of New York at New Paltz, author, member New York State Freedom Trail Commission.

4. Workshops

a) The Underground Railroad in Northern New York: Myth or Reality? - Tom Calarco This workshop will present documentation that verifies the existence of the UGR in Northern New York. It will move from there to point out areas that will need more research in order to gain a clearer picture of its operation.
b) The Rescue of Charles Nalle - Scott Christianson The flight from Virginia and the UGR rescue in Troy in 1860 of fugitive slave Charles Nalle.

c) Before the Underground Railroad - Ted Corbett Following New York's 1827 abolition of slavery free blacks were deprived of their civil rights and racism flourished. In response, Black leadership forged with whites an abolitionist movement that was primed to participate in the UGR.
d) Preserving A Sense of Time And Place - Elizabeth Griffen & Liselle La France Researching and documenting where and how the UGR movement took place has proven challenging to historians. Do we really have to know everything when establishing a museum and site?
e) Slavery, Quilts, and the Underground Railroad - Joanne Lilliard & Florence Bond Personal story of a family that emerged from slavery in North Carolina and settled in Jamestown, New York. Professional quilters and business women share story of quilts and UGR.
f) Railroad To Freedom - Nancy Payne Story of the UGR as seen through the eyes of a Quaker farm wife from Washington County.
g) The Underground Railroad In Albany - Paul and Mary Liz Stewart Who were the Albany residents who engaged in this movement of civil disobedience and what are their stories?

h) Gerrit Smith & Adirondack Land Grants - Martha Swan & Amy Godine Story of Garrit Smith land grants to Blacks and Timbuctoo settlement in the Adirondacks. i) Black Abolitionists and the Convention Movement - Leon Van Dyke Professor in Urban Education explores Black Abolitionists & Convention Movement 1840-1859.
j) To Change the Course of History: The Underground Railroad and Its Contemporary Meaning - A.J. Williams-Myers - To share thoughts, ideas, and conversation on the power of an idea whose time has come; and demonstrate how that idea can move people into action.

5. Panel - "What is being done in New York State to preserve and celebrate New York State African-American history & the UGR and where do we go from here?" - Sandy Stuart, Coordinator, NYS Freedom Trail Commission; Judith Wellman, PhD, Director and Historian, Historical New York; Sarah Curry-Cobb, Alderperson, Albany City Commission; Richard White-Smith, Director, Heritage New York Program 6. Closing Songs and Litany - Songs of the Abolition Movement with a litany celebrating fugitives who passed through the region.

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