History
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| Slavery and the Underground Railroad in Fayette, Greene and Washington Counties in Southwestern Pennsylvania | |
| This lecture will discuss slavery in Fayette, Greene and Washington Counties, and the effect the Act for Gradual Abolition had upon the slaves and slave owners in the state. It will also identify the sites and agents who aided fugitive slaves in these counties. | ||
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| The Louisiana 16: History of Domestic Slave Trade, Researching Ancestors, Tracking Living Descendants | |
| The presentation will provide an overview of the Domestic Slave Trade, its impact on the families of politics and economics and the decimation of enslaved families. Uitlizing the case study of the Louisiana 16- sold by James Madison of Orange County Virginia to William Taylor and removed to Louisiana, the presentation will illustrate methods and resources to find ancestors. | ||
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| Reframing Our Historical Lens: Reshaping The Epicenter Of African American History | |
| This presentation recasts African-American history toward a longer a longer African diaspora-oriented historical context by arguing that, contrary to Anglo-centric scholarship of many noted historians, including e.g., Ira Berlin, African American history does not begin in Jamestown, Virginia in 1619. Ninety-three years Before those 20 twenty some odd Negroes were traded for food at Point Comfort, 100 Africans plotted a slave rebellion to initiate a tradition of resistance that culminated with the participation of nearly 200,000 Black soldiers defeating slavery in 1865. | ||
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| Peter Spencer, The Black Church, & The Right to Assemble: The Original Civil Rights Movement, 1813 Saturday, Oct. 13 - Session II - 1:30pm-2:30pm
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| In 1813, when Peter Spencer started the first incorporated religious body in the nation—the African Union Church, the nation was still in the Holocaust of Enslavement. In 1813 the so called nation of the United States of America was brand new; the country was only 37 years old. In declaring itself free from England, this new nation had the audacity, to suggest, in its struggle for freedom, that it held “truths to be evident that all men (and women) are created equal by The Creator, and are given the rights of life, liberty (freedom) and the pursuit of happiness.” … Wilmington, Delaware, in many respects, is one of the gateways to freedom for African Americans in entire the nation. It was here in Wilmington where the first stand for civil rights was taken, more than 125 years before what people would brand the Civil Rights Movement. It was in Wilmington where the first challenge was made for African Americans to have the right to assemble in the public square, 150 years before the historic March on Washington. It was in Wilmington where the first stand was taken for African American religious freedom...' | ||
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| Lifting Up the Dead: Exploring a Cemetery- Genealogy Group Partnership Saturday, Oct. 13 - Session IV - 4:00pm-5:00pm
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| Session attendees will leave with a familiarity of the history and significant burials at Eden Cemetery – including veterans of every American war, artists, performers, religious leaders, and civil rights activists. They will learn more about the status of African American cemeteries as a whole, across the United States, including some of the dangers they face and reasons for hope. Finally, they will leave with one example of how a local genealogical society can work with an African American cemetery, including lessons learned and suggestions for the others looking to start a similar project. | ||
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| Sold Down the River: The Forced Migration from the North to the Antebellum South Friday, Oct. 12 - Session III - 2:45pm-3:45pm
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| “Sold down the river” is an expression describing betrayal and exploitation deeply rooted in America’s past, when African Americans were sold south into cruel slavery. In 1818, one hundred people were illegally and forcibly taken from New Jersey through the actions of a local judge. This is their story. | ||
