Calendar
Thanks to the generosity of The Guido and Ellen Palma Foundation, AKWAABA: The Heritage Associates will conduct Underground Tours and provide historical presentations for college, high school and elementary school students in the Rochester area this spring:
April 29 “Riverstroll Underground Railroad Tour” for University of Rochester students
May 11 “Riverstroll Underground Railroad Tour” for students attending North West High School at the Frederick Douglass Campus
May 25 “Riverstroll Underground Railroad Tour” for fourth grade students attending Flower City School
June 1 Tour of Tinker Park simulating a journey with Harriet Tubman for fourth grade students attending Flower City School
May 20 — AKWAABA’s associates will participate in the annual salute to the Colored Troops who participated in the Civil War some of whom are buried in Mt. Hope Cemetery. The program will begin at 2PM in Mt. Hope Cemetery.
June 24 … July 29 — The Black Voices Foundation of San Bernardino California will again sponsor three groups of educators who will participate in their Footsteps to Freedom Underground Railroad Tours. The participants will travel to Underground Railroad sites from California through Ohio, Detroit and Canada ending in Rochester. AKWAABA will escort them to our sites and give our historical presentation before their return to California. Specifically, their groups will be in Rochester June 24th, July 15th and July 29th.
July 14 — “Riverstroll Underground Railroad Tour” for college students attending a summer program at the University of Rochester.
August 25 — Historical presentations on Frederick Douglass and Rochester’s connection to the Underground Railroad at the New York State Fair Art and Home Center. AKWAABA is a member of the New York State Underground Railroad Consortium.
10AM Friday, September 6 — Students from the Arc of Monroe will participate in our Riverwalk Tour and living history presentation.
10AM Friday, September 13 — AKWAABA workshop: “How Living History Presentations Enrich Underground Railroad History” at the 2019 Network to Freedom Training sponsored by the The National Park Service at Niagara University in Niagara Falls New York.
Sunday, October 13 — Eunice White, an AKWAABA enactor, will portray Sojourner Truth at Sonnenberg Gardens.
2:30PM Friday, October 4 — Performance for attendees of the NAAAS Regional Conference at St. John Fisher College’s Basil Hall.
Honors
Riverstroll honored
Our “Riverstroll” program has been honored with inclusion in the National Park Service Underground Railroad program that seeks to coordinate preservation and education efforts nationwide and integrate local historical places, museums, and interpretive programs associated with the Underground Railroad into a mosaic of community, regional, and national stories.
Riverwalk honored
Our “Riverwalk Underground Railroad Tour” has been designated as one of 21 sites of the Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor of the National Park Service [https://eriecanalway.org/]. Visitors can have their passport book stamped or can purchase a book after participating in the tour.
Giving
Give to us via GuideStar to further or work! We are encouraging those who have benefited from Camp AKWAABA, and our program with students at #39 School, to help us expand our programming by making a tax-deductible contribution online through GuideStar. Thank you in advance for your support.
Civil rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer (1917-1977) helped organize the 1964 Freedom Summer African-American voter registration drive in Mississippi.
