Friday, February 22, 2008

Opening Address and Buffet Reception

"The Challenges of Presenting the Underground Railroad in a Public Setting"
Dr. Spencer Crew, Executive Director of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center
-- Co-sponsored by the History Department of Union College --

In his opening address to the conference, Spencer Crew will be drawing on his long and distinguished experience in presenting history - especially African American history - to broad, diverse public audiences. After receiving a PhD. in United States History from Rutgers University in 1979, Dr. Crew taught briefly at the University of Maryland, then moved to the Smithsonian Institution's prestigious National Museum of American History (NMAH). Among his many accomplishments at NMAH, he curated a major exhibition, Field to Factory: African-American Migration, 1915 - 1940, which opened in 1987 and which was based in part on his own family's experience of migration to Cleveland from the South in the early 1920s. Originally a temporary exhibition, positive public and critical response has made it a permanent part of the museum. In 1994, Dr. Crew became the director of NMAH, a capacity in which he served for seven years. Then, in 2001 he was chosen to head the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, which was then in the process of development. Opening in 2004, the Freedom Center has become, under Dr. Crew's guidance, a major national and international interpretive site for the long African America struggle for freedom.


Friday dinner will be held at
Best Western Sovereign, 1228 Western Avenue, Albany, New York 12208

Reservations Required by Friday, February 15, 2008

Mary Kay Ricks Keynote speaker
February 23, 2008

Saturday, February 23, 2008
Keynote Address

"The Pearl: New York’s Ties to the Largest Escape Attempt in Washington DC"
Mary Kay Ricks, Researcher and Author

New York State abolitionists played an important role in many anti-slavery efforts in the state and around the nation. One such effort involved the implementation of an escape attempt on the schooner Pearl from the shores of our nation’s capital city. Documentation of this escape attempt, with an emphasis on the Albany Patriot newspaper, reveals a great deal about the anti-slavery links between New York and Washington, D.C. before, during, and after the Pearl incident.

Mary Kay Ricks has written about Washington history in numerous publications including the Washington Post. A former attorney at the Department of Labor, Ricks is the founder of Tour DC, which features in-depth walking tours in the nation's capital. Her walks have been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, Southern Living, Washingtonian, and many other publications. She lives with her husband and two children outside of Washington, D.C.

 

Kim and Reggie Harris
February 23, 2008

Saturday, February 23, 2008
Evening Entertainment

Freedom’s Songs - Voices of the UGR
Kim and Reggie Harris and Nzinga’s Daughters

Songs of freedom, courage, and inspiration will fill St. Joseph’s Hall as Kim and Reggie Harris and Nzinga’s Daughters enrich and entertain their audience with melodious voices and thought provoking lyrics.

Performance will take place at St. Joseph’s Hall, 985 Madison Avenue, College of St. Rose at 7:30pm.

Nzinga’s Daughters
February 23, 2008
 

Celebrate

Sunday, February 24, 2007

Celebration of Solidarity

Those who were enslaved, and those who made their way to a life of freedom, are at the center of the Underground Railroad story. Let us join our voices with theirs to acknowledge their courage and tenacity, their resistance to injustice, their hunger for justice, that their lives may guide us as we continue the legacy of their struggle.

Begins at 9am. Concludes at 9:30am. Place to be determined. Free.

Myers Residence

The UGR in Arbor Hill as Seen Through the Letters of Stephen and Harriet Myers

A 60 min. walking tour during which time selected letters of Stephen and Harriet Myers will be read and discussed at the locations from which they were written, reflecting on the meaning and interpretation of the content in relation to the Arbor Hill neighborhood in Albany and to the UGR movement.

Begins at 10am at the Myers Residence, 194 Livingston Avenue, Albany. Street parking is available. Free.
 

W.E.B.
Du Bois

Planned in collaboration with the Upper Housatonic Valley African American Heritage Trail
Travel 60 minutes to Great Barrington, MA for a luncheon presentation on the UGR in the Housatonic Valley, followed by a panel presentation on Free Blacks in Berkshire County. Panelists include Dr. Francis Jones-Sneed speaking about Mum Bett, Bernard Drew speaking about Free Slaves and Col. Ashley, Dr. Robert Paynter speaking on the Black Burghardt’s, Mr. Wray Gunn speaking about Warren H. Davis, and Mrs. Elaine Gunn speaking about Agrippa Hull.
 

Bus transportation will be provided by Durham School Services
Bus will leave Albany Heritage Area Visitors Center Parking area at 11AM. Will return to Albany by 6:00pm.