Saturday, June 14 | noon to 3 pm | at Bristol Valley Theater
Can you imagine?
Refusing Frederick Douglass?
To speak in (y)our community?
Yet here we are in Naples, 1862 — in New York, a free state fighting for the Union in the Civil War — yet no public institution will welcome a black man to speak — not even Frederick Douglass himself.
Yet we know:
Abolitionists have always believed in walls dissolving
Believing another world was possible, a small group of people took it upon themselves to build a stage in a backyard for Frederick to address our community, cooking a free meal to nourish the bellies of 300+ people as their imaginations were nourished by one of the most powerful thinkers, writers, orators and freedom seekers of our young nation.
Friends, join us celebrating and humbly commemorating our first annual
Frederick Douglass Day
Saturday, June 14 | noon to 3 pm | at Bristol Valley Theater
Noon: Join our potluck! Let’s feed each other as abundantly as we did in 1862! Bring your own plate, utensils & folding chair. We do this til we (feed &) free us ☀️
12:30 pm: Rochester’s remarkable Hopefully Choir serenades us all as well as leads us in song 🎶
1 pm: Welcome! Historical Society & Library set the stage ✨
1:45 pm: Frederick Douglass speaks! Thank you to our dear friend Michael Marshall for living into Frederick’s legacy in so many ways every day already 🧡
2:15 pm: Emily Marks speaks! I (Petra, here) am grateful to share historical notes as well as musings for modern times through the eyes of a woman with deep commitments to plants, community care and courage who also loved this land and dreamed of more fruitful futures for all.
Who is at the table, Friends?
Who is not?
Who is refused dignity and agency in our community today?
Frederick Douglass said:
“We have to do with the past only as we can make it useful to the present and future.”
Thanks for joining us in body and / or spirit as you feel so moved, Friends 💛
For years and generations to come!
Sow Seeds & Sing Songs,
Thanks for joining us in body as well as ebullient, abolitionist spirit, Friends!
Sow Seeds & Sing Songs,
& the Many Possibilities of Fruition
ps
Did you know?
The fine in Naples, New York in 1862 for being ‘caught’ participating in the Underground Railroad was $3000.
With a 2.14% inflation rate, this is approximately equivalent to $94,989.80 today.
Not to mention the social cost.
What are we paying for (or not?) today, Friends?
Friends, I grew up here in Naples celebrating that there were people & homes active on the Underground Railroad here…
…not realizing this was such a small percentage of our community that would even talk about (much less engage in) such ‘radical’ activity.
I only learned Frederick Douglass spoke here in Naples a few years back — and that he spoke on a hand-made platform in a friend’s backyard after every church and public institution refused to let him speak under their roof.
pps
Oceans of gratitude for everyone engaged No Kings Day as well as Pride and all other actions, celebrations & vigils near and far, we love and are in solidarity with you, always