Colors of Freedom: Juneteeth celebration at historic sites

AUSABLE CHASM | On June 19, a collaboration of area historians, re-enactors and artists will celebrate the North Country's important role in ending slavery in America. The inaugural Colors of Freedom tour starts at the North Star Underground Railroad Museum and will welcome visitors to various sites in series from Keeseville to Peru to Elizabethtown, ending in Lake Placid. At each historic location, actors and docents will highlight moments illustrating the North Country's place on the long road to freedom. Juneteenth on June 19 is a national holiday, marking the moment when the last group of formerly enslaved persons in Texas learned of Emancipation, more than a year after the proclamation was made by Abraham Lincoln. Juneteenth is considered by many to be America's second Independence Day. The June 19 North Country Colors of Freedom drive-yourself tour was created this year in a collaboration by the North Star Underground Railroad Museum, John Brown Lives!, the Adirondack History Museum and the John Brown Farm State Historic Site. The tour starts at 9 a.m. at the North Star Underground Railroad in Ausable Chasm. From there, guests will drive on to the Evergreen Cemetery, Quaker Union and to Stephen Keese Smith's farm in Peru with docents at each site. Attendees will then drive to the Old County Courthouse in Elizabethtown to hear John Brown's final speech at 1 p.m. and learn about the journey the funeral cortege took to his final resting place in North Elba. The tour ends at the John Brown Farm at 3 p.m. for a Juneteenth Celebration of Freedom. "Working together, we are able to deliver a much more comprehensive view of Underground Railroad and Abolition activity in the North Country than we'd be able to do on our own," Jackie Madison, president of the North Country Underground Railroad Historical Association, said in announcing the Colors of Freedom tour. "We're hoping to make this an annual event." Martha Swan, executive director of John Brown Lives!, said the program pulls together historic pieces of the North Country's widespread role in the anti-slavery movement. Clinton and Essex counties were a center of the roiling abolition controversies before the Civil War, with local folks here helping many freedom-seekers travel the Lake Champlain corridor to Canada in the 1830s, 1840s and 1850s. "We look forward to celebrating Juneteenth with our neighbors and visitors to the region," Swan said. The Celebration of Freedom on Juneteenth at the John Brown Farm is open to the public, from 3 to 5 p.m., with performances by Kuf Knotz and Christine Elise blending hip-hop, soul and classical traditions. Plus, a dramatic monologue performed by Robin Michel Caudell: "Remove the Scales from Thine Eyes! Helen Appo Cook," from "The Black Opal Suite: Melanated Women in the Adirondacks," by Andrea Baer. As part of the weekend celebration, there is also a special screening of "Searching for Timbuctoo," a film by Plattsburgh State filmmaker Paul Miller. The showing is on Saturday, June 18 at 7 p.m. at Lake Placid Center for the Arts and will be followed by panel discussion with filmmaker Miller, Amy Godine and Hadley Kruczek-Aaron. The LPCA event has a $5 admission fee. IF YOU GO Pre-registration is required for the Colors of Freedom Tour. Information is posted on the North Star Museum website at northcountryundergroundrailroad.com. This event was made possible, in part, by an Essex County Arts Council's Cultural Assistance Program Grant, funding provided by Essex County.

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Colors of Freedom: Juneteeth celebration at historic sites

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