Underground Railroad Free Press
Correction
In the September issue of Free Press issued this week, there were spelling errors in the article on the 2024 Free Press Prize for Leadership. The error could not have been worse: the name of the winner got past spellcheck and was mis-spelled. Our apologies to the National Abolitionist Hall of Fame and Museum and to our readers. Here is the corrected article.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Underground Railroad Free Press Prize for Leadership recognizes outstanding present or past individual leadership of a contemporary Underground Railroad entity or cause, or leadership within the Underground Railroad community. Individuals and entities from any nation are eligible.
The 2024 Prize for Leadership is awarded to the National Abolitionist Hall of Fame and Museum in Peterboro, New York for its entrepreneurship in conceiving and launching its institution and actively involving itself in the modern abolition of slavery.
The Hall's signature activity is the induction into its growing pantheon of historical figures who played major roles in the abolitionist movement of the nineteenth century. Since the first inductions in 2005, 28 men and women have been drafted into the National Abolitionist Hall of Fame. Inductions occur several at a time every two or three years, most recently in 2022. The next induction will be October 19 when Catharine and Levi Coffin, Leonard Grimes, and James Smith will be honored. Visit peterborony.org/events/nahof-induction-ceremony-2024 for more.
Coming up on October 5, 2024 is the group's annual Abolition Walk. nationalabolitionhalloffameandmuseum.org/events.html
The Hall could not be housed more appropriately than where it is in the building in which the inaugural meeting of the New York State Antislavery Society was held in 1835. Twenty years ago, the building had long been vacant, was in disrepair, and had become a candidate for demolition. Led by Judith Wellman and others, a local group set about fundraising to restore the old piece of history and succeeded grandly as in the photo here. Wellman is Professor Emerita of History at State University of New York at Oswego and is the author of the Wellman Scale, today's gold-standard tool for rating the likelihood of authenticity of Underground Railroad site claims.
The National Abolitionist Hall of Fame and Museum doesn't stop with honoring the past.In addition to honoring the work of antislavery abolitionists of the past, the organization, in its words "strives to complete the second and ongoing abolition—the moral conviction to end racism."