Peterboro, NY -- For the first time in 75 years, Emancipation Day returned to the hamlet of Peterboro. More than 50 people from New York, Massachusetts, Minnesota and other states met Saturday at the Gerrit Smith Estate to honor abolitionists who fought for the freedom of hundreds of black men and women in Central New York. The celebration included...
At Emancipation Day Saturday in Peterboro, (from left) Alexia Bryant, 6, and her cousins Shane Bryant, 5, and Shaun Bryant, 4, clamber atop a stone monument to abolitionist Gerrit Smith out´side the national historical site for his estate. The three and their families were visiting from Washington, D.C. More than 50 people from New York, Massachusetts, Minnesota and other states met Saturday at the Gerrit Smith Estate to honor abolitionists who fought for the freedom of hundreds of black men and women in Central New York.
The celebration included singing, storytelling, photographs and a half-mile procession to the gravesite of Gerrit Smith, a wealthy abolitionist whose estate was a stop on the Underground Railroad, which led slaves to freedom.
The celebration was inspired by newspaper clips and photographs of traditional Emancipation Days, said Max Smith, co-organizer of the event and distant relative of Gerrit Smith.
“They had speeches; they had songs. They had a lot of games ... one-legged races, the kind of things that were big in the turn of the century,” Smith said. “One year, they put up a ring and had a boxing match. So, I thought, where we can, let’s copy what they did — out of respect for that tradition.”
During the procession, Smith helped carry two wreaths to the Peterboro Cemetery. One was for Gerrit Smith and the other was for Malvina Russell, the last person born into slavery in Peterboro, said Smithfield historian Donna Burdick.
“I think Gerrit is looking down and smiling, that regardless of your politics, America elected a black man president,” Smith said, as he placed the wreath on his grave. “That would have been, I think, certainly in keeping with the kind of colorblind, colorless mindset that he and the other abolitionists stood for.”
Also visiting the cemetery was Sylvia Bryant, of Peterboro, and her family. She is related to Gerrit Smith.
“I learned so much that I didn’t know before,” Bryant said. “It’s just wonderful.”
Bryant and Smith are members of the Laundry Committee. The committee is working to turn the laundry building near the Smith estate visitors center into an exhibit honoring blacks who worked there, Smith said. This includes Russell.
“It represents black enterprise,” Smith said. “It was an important, an integral part of the Gerrit Smith estate. At one time, there were 33 buildings on the 18 acres. ... and she (Russell) ran the laundry for all 33 of those structures. Since she was the last person born in slavery, and that was her life work, if was only fitting that we use this building to tell the story.”
Burdick hopes to continue this celebration for years to come.
“I think it’s really crucial,” Burdick said. “It’s getting African-Americans’ story told again. ... So much of this it forgotten.”