JOHN BROWN DAY EVENTS (fwd)

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I encourage you to attend these events if you're in that part of the
country!

RH


---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 03 May 2000 02:17:58 PDT
From: New Abolitionist Society <newabolition@hotmail.com>
Cc: recipient list not shown:  ;
Subject: JOHN BROWN DAY EVENTS

NORTH ELBA, N.Y.
Internationally-acclaimed actor, director and writer Ossie Davis will come 
to the Adirondacks to participate in the upcoming John Brown 2000 
Celebration on May 5 & 6. Reading from an address given by Frederick 
Douglass in 1881, Mr. Davis will, in Douglass’ words, give "recollections, 
impressions and facts, as I can, of a grand, brave and good old man," John 
Brown, on the occasion of Brown¹s 200th birthday. On Friday, May 5, 
Adirondack folksinger Peggy Eyres will share the stage with Mr. Davis at 
the 
United Church of Christ in Elizabethtown, dedicating songs of freedom, love 
and sacrifice to abolitionist Mary Day Brown, John Brown¹s second wife.

The John Brown 2000 Celebration revives an old tradition of pilgrimage to 
the abolitionist¹s grave to mark his birthday on May 9, 1800. This year¹s 
celebration resumes on Saturday, May 6, at the John Brown Farm State 
Historic Site near Lake Placid. On October 16, 1859, abolitionist John 
Brown 
polarized the anguished feelings of a divided nation when he and nineteen 
others, including five black men and three of his sons, attacked and held a 
federal arsenal in Harpers Ferry. Although federal troops overwhelmed 
Brown¹s party only thirty-six hours later, Brown¹s decisive action, trial 
and execution in December, 1859, are widely regarded as the spark that 
ignited the Civil War. Brown¹s dying wish was to be buried at the family 
homestead in the Adirondacks, a state historic site since 1895.

Organized annual pilgrimages to the Brown homestead started in 1922 with 
the 
founding of the John Brown Memorial Association by members of the 
Philadelphia chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of 
Colored People (N.A.A.C.P.). In May of that year, J. Max Barber and Dr. T. 
Spotuas Burwell, key figures in the John Brown Memorial Association, 
traveled to the John Brown Farm to lay a wreath on Brown¹s grave "in the 
name of Negro Americans." They were met by a welcoming delegation from the 
local Chamber of Commerce and school children who had been released from 
school for the day so that they could witness the wreath-laying ceremony. 
Standing atop the great rock that dominates the gravesite, Barber gave a 
plea for a contemporary John Brown to combat lynching, Jim Crow segregation 
laws, and the Ku Klux Klan.

At this year¹s bicentennial celebration, lifelong civil and human rights 
activist Ron Daniels will echo Barber¹s call for people of all races and 
walks of life to dedicate themselves to the cause for freedom, justice and 
equality for which Brown and other black and white abolitionists sacrificed 
their lives.

John Brown 2000 Celebration is also an occasion to honor the free African 
American New Yorkers who moved to the Adirondacks in the late 1840's as 
part 
of a plan to secure equal voting rights and to establish independent farm 
settlements, which came to be known as "Timbucto" and "Blackville," in 
Essex 
and Franklin Counties. These early Adirondackers preceded John and Mary 
Brown and inspired them to move their family to the region.

The African American scholar and writer Katherine Butler Jones, a 
descendent 
of African American homesteaders who settled in Westport, New York, in 
1850, 
and Amy Godine, Adirondack social historian and the curator of the 
forthcoming exhibition, "Dreaming of Timbucto," will discuss various 
aspects 
of this little-known, inspiring chapter of antebellum New York history. 
Mohawk poet Maurice Kenny will recite from his work and area residents and 
visitors will present the views of Henry David Thoreau, W.E.B. DuBois, and 
other prominent figures, past and present, in a choral reading on John 
Brown¹s legacy.

The celebration on Saturday will start at 11:00 a.m. at Trinity Chapel on 
Old Military Road with period music performed by the Elizabethtown 
Community 
Band under the direction of Adirondack composer Irene Boire. A one-mile 
walk 
to the John Brown Farm, a wreath-laying ceremony at the gravesite, and 
guest 
speakers and performers will follow. The New Jerusalem Baptist Church Youth 
Choir under the direction of Dr. Dexter Chriss will perform gospel songs at 
the Farm.

People are encouraged to wear comfortable shoes, dress for the weather, and 
bring musical instruments and lunch.

The John Brown 2000 Celebration is open to all.  With support from the Arts 
& Business Council, the Stewart R. Mott Charitable Trust, and the Lake 
Placid Education Foundation, John Brown Lives!, a grassroots freedom 
education project based in Westport, and the Essex County Historical 
Society 
in Elizabethtown are working together to bring the opening night program 
with Ossie Davis and Peggy Eyres to the public.  A minimum donation of $10 
is suggested.

Call 518-962-4781 for more information or to find out how you can 
participate in the John Brown 2000 Celebration in the Adirondacks. The 
contact person at John Brown Lives! is Martha Swan.

CALIFORNIA
Allies for Freedom, an organization of teachers, librarians, and community 
activists who look for the African Center of John Brown's raid, are holding 
an event on May 6, 2000 to commorate Nat Turner and John Brown.

The event will be at the gravesite of Mary Day Brown, Brown’s widow, at the 
Madronia Cemetery at 14766 Oak in Saratoga, California, 95070 at 11 a.m. 
(telephone is 408-867-3717). The spirits of Nat Turner and John Brown will 
be invoked by Dr. Herbert Aptheker of San Jose, California, who has written 
extensively on both.

Mrs. Brown and several children moved to California in 1864, eventually 
settling in a mountainous area similar to that of the Adirondacks in New 
York. The purchase of a farm in Saratoga, which is now a Boy Scout Camp, 
was 
assisted by subscriptions and donations through the San Jose Mercury 
newspaper and by African Americans and others who lived in northern 
California in the 1870s and 1880s. Mary Day Brown died in San Francisco in 
1884. There are at least twenty descendants of John Brown at the Madronia 
Cemetery; the historical staff there are preparing a brochure for the 
occasion.

Car pools will leave from the parking lot of San Jose City College at 10 
a.m. for the unitiated; a van for disabled will be available there. 
Students 
of Jean Libby, adjunct instructor of history, and Rick Dirck, adjunct 
instructor of English, are making the car pool arrangements. The two 
members 
of Allies for Freedom in California are Jean Libby and Henry P. Organ.

HARPERS FERRY, WEST VIRGINIA
The schedule of events at the Harpers Ferry National Historical Park:

Tuesday, May 9th -- Opening Ceremony & Reception - 1 PM

Welcome
Introductions
Dr. Raymond Dobard, author of Hidden in Plain View
Music of John Brown, Magpie
"Torrington 1800," Mark McEachern, Director of Torrington
Historical Authority
Opening of John Brown Museum and "Designs for Escape: The
Underground Railroad Quilt Code" Quilt Exhibit
Reception

7:30 PM - "Sword of the Spirit," a one-act play based on the life and
letters of John and Mary Brown. This production was researched and
written by Greg Artzner, Terry Leonino and Richard Henzel, and is
performed by Terry Leonino and Greg Artzner (also known as “Magpie”).

A specially designed bicentennial postal cancellation will be unveiled by 
the Postal service and will be available at the Park during the afternoon.

Wednesday, May 10 & Thursday, May 11, 2 PM
"In the Footsteps of John Brown and His Men at Harpers Ferry," a walking 
tour

Friday, May 12, 2 PM
Music of John Brown, Magpie

Saturday, May 13 , 1 PM

"John Brown Revisited" - Dr. Paul Finkelman (University of Akron Law School)
"John Brown Day Address - Fred Morsell as Frederick Douglass
Music of John Brown, Magpie
"John Brown's Body" - A Reading
"Music and the Underground Railroad" - Kim and Reggie Harris
Closing Remarks - Congressman John Lewis
7:30 PM - "Sword of the Spirit"

Sunday, May 14, 11 a.m. The New Abolitionist Society will sponsor an
event in commemoration of John Brown and Nat Turner. Gather at the
Fire Engine House in the lower town. Weather permitting, we will meet 
outdooors on the green space. PLEASE NOTE: THE DATE GIVEN IN The New 
Abolitionist IS MISTAKEN. THIS IS THE RIGHT DATE.

May 15-17 - John Brown Conference
The conference will be held in the Camp Hill district of the Park.  In 
addition to the presentation of papers, there will be guest speakers,panel 
discussions, musical and dramatic presentations, tours,
interpretive exhibits and book displays.

All those who wish to attend the conference must register.  The
pre-registration fee is $50.  The deadline is May 1st.  The on-site
registration fee is $65.  The park entrance fee will be waived for
all participants.

Before Freedom Came
Located on the second floor of the John Brown Museum, "Before
Freedom Came: African American Life in the Antebellum South"
examines the individual, family and community life of 19th-century African 
Americans against the backdrop of one of the most tumultuous eras in 
American history.  Developed as a travelling exhibit by the Smithsonian 
Institution this exhibit focuses on remembrances of slavery told through 
personal testimonies, traditional stories,
songs and objects.  Musical instruments, tools, household items,
objects of spiritual significance, manuscripts and photos of black
Americans--slave and free--are part of this exhibition.

"Designs for Escape: The Underground Railroad Quilt Code" is a special 
exhibit that will be on display throughout the John Brown 2000 event.

For more information, call the Park Visitor Center at 304-535-6298 or log 
on 
to the park's home page at www.nps.gov/hafe/home.htm.

Travel:  Harpers Ferry, West Virginia is located on Route 340 about 82 
miles 
from Baltimore, Maryland.  From Baltimore, drivers should take I-695 to 
I-70 
to Frederick, Maryland.  From Frederick, take US 340 west.

Accommodations:
Bavarian Inn & Lodge (Sheperdstown)  304-876-2552
Cliffside Inn (Harpers Ferry)  304-535-6302
Comfort Inn (Harpers Ferry) 304-535-6391
Hilltop House (Harpers Ferry)  304-535-6321
Knights Inn (Charles Town) 304-725-2041
Northgate Inn (Charles Town) 304-725-1402
Towne House (Charles Town) 304-725-8441
Turf Motel (Charles Town) 304-725-2081

Camping
C & O Canal 301-739-4200
Greenbrier State Park (Maryland) 301-791-4767
KOA Campground ((Harpers Ferry) 304-535-6895
Tri-Lake Campground  304-258-1331

NEW YORK CITY, May 12-14
a two-hundredth anniversary birthday party for the radical abolitionist

The past, present and future of white solidarity with people of color-
a national organizing conference on anti-racist, anti-imperialist action

for full information on schedule, registration, logistics, and political 
education, check out website at: * www.johnbrown2000.org *

Friday, May 12, 2000 * opening event * A Celebration of Resistance

with poetry and prose performances from Terry Bisson, Hugo & Nebula
award-winning science fiction author Dennis Brutus, South Africa's national 
poet, Chrystos, Native American poet; author of Not Vanishing
music featuring Bev Grant, Director, Brooklyn Women's Chorus
Fred Ho, master jazz saxophonist;co-editor of the just-released Legacy to 
Liberation: Politics & Culture of Revolutionary Asian Pacific America and 
special surprise guests!!

plus presentation of the second annual John Brown award, for continued
spirit and struggle, to Laura Whitehorn anti-imperialist former political 
prisoner

Friday, May 12, 2000, 6:30 pm
Hunter College's Brookdale Center Auditorium
425 East 25th Street, Manhattan, (#6 train to 23rd Street)
$10.00-$15.00
sliding scale suggested contribution, free with conference registration, no 
one turned away

Sat.-Sun., May 13-14, 2000 * Organizing Conference

Confirmed schedule:

* Saturday, May 13, 9 am-10 am: brief Introductory Plenary, with
    * DR. LUIS NIEVES FALCON, Puerto Rican Human Rights Committee

* Saturday, May 13, 10 am-Noon: Workshops and Working Sessions I
info. sessions, planning meetings, and caucuses, including updates from 
Mumia Coalition work, anti-WTO/IMF mobilizations, the Jericho Movement,the 
National Committee to Free Puerto Rican Political Prisoners, the Leagueof 
Indigenous Sovereign Nations, Women for Justice and anti-police brutality 
efforts, Anti-Racist Action Network, Greensboro Defense Committee, Midnight 
Notes,anti-Nazi/Skinhead and anti-fascist work, New Abolitionists, including
workshop leaders Ashanti Alston, Kai Lumumba Barrow, Dave Dellinger,
Soffiyah Ellijah, Silvia Federici, Herman Ferguson, Connie Hogarth, Mawina 
Kouyate, Matthew Lyons, Ed Mead, more!

* Saturday, May 13, Noon-1:15 pm: Lunch, Caucus time
&#61623; Saturday, May 13, 1:15 pm-3:15 pm: Workshops and Working Sessions 
II
(see above)
* Saturday, May 13, 3:30 pm-5:30 pm: Workshops and Working Sessions III
(see above)
* Saturday, May 13, 5:30-7 pm: Dinner, Caucus time

* Saturday, May 13, 7 pm-9:30 pm: Town Hall "State of the Movements"
Meeting, with
    * BO BROWN, Out of Control Lesbian Committee to Support Political
Prisoners
    * JOSE LOPEZ, Puerto Rican Cultural Center, Chicago
    * BARBARA SMITH,activist-author-publisher;editor of recently
re-published classic Homegirls
    * CHIEF BILLY TAYAC, League of Indigenous Sovereign Nations
    * DHORUBA BIN WAHAD, Black Panther Party former political prisoner

* Sunday, May 14, 10 am-Noon: Small Discussion Groups (with sets of 
questions)
* Sunday, May 14, 12 pm-1 pm: Conference Closing (including brief report 
backs), with Safiya Bukhari, National Coordinator, Jericho Movement

May 13-14, 2000, NYC
Hunter College, 68th St. & Lexington Ave.
$30.00 sliding scale suggested fee (includes Friday celebration), no one
turned away

All events sponsored by Resistance in Brooklyn (RnB) and the Student
Liberation Action Movement (SLAM) in conjunction with a coalition of
organizations,including Out of Control (San Francisco), People Against
Racist Terror (Los Angeles),Fireworx (S.F.), Prairie Fire Organizing
Committee (Chicago), Western Mass Resistance Coalition (MA), Peter
Maurin Center (Washington D.C.),  Modern Times (Long Island),
European Dissent/People's Institute for Survival (New Orleans), and a
host of other local groups and individuals from the U.S. & Canada

* for more info., call 212-989-8222; www.johnbrown2000.org; E-mail:
mmmsrnb@igc.org *

"I cannot remember a night so dark as to have hindered the coming day nor a 
storm so furious or dreadful as to prevent the return of warm sunshine and 
a 
cloudless sky." -John Brown, 1857

See our websites:
    www.newabolition.org
    www.postfun.com/racetraitor

Subscribe to Race Traitor ($20/four issues) and The New Abolitionist 
($10/year--six issues)

New Abolitionist Society, PO Box 499, Dorchester, MA 02122
Voicemail (781) 255-5964

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