Summer Series focuses on Black History in the Adirondacks

SARANAC LAKE – North Country Community College, the Adirondack Diversity Initiative and the Adirondack North Country Association are collaborating to present a series of timely and necessary online programs that shine light on Black History in the Adirondacks.

The sessions are part of North Country Live: Summer Series, held via Zoom every Thursday in August at 7 p.m. The presentations are free, although pre-registration is required so invitation details can be sent to participants.

In June and July, the college’s Summer Series programs have focused on wellness, financial literacy, and workplace skills. The lineup for August is as follows:

Aug. 6, “The story of Timbuctoo: Black voting rights in the Adirondacks,” with Pete Nelson, a co-founder of ADI and an adjunct faculty member at NCCC. Pete’s presentation will focus on the effort to establish voting rights for free blacks in the North Elba region of the Adirondacks in the 1840s.

Aug. 13, “Abolitionist Rising: The Tortured Life of John Brown,” with NCCC faculty member Tom McGrath. In the first of two presentations on John Brown, Tom will explore Brown’s incredible life, which ultimately led to his emergence as a violent abolitionist crusader.

Aug. 20, “Hanging from the Beam: Harpers Ferry and the Execution of John Brown,” with NCCC faculty member Tom McGrath. This program focuses on Brown’s failed attempt to start a slave insurrection at Harpers Ferry, Virginia, his trial, and public execution. It will follow Brown’s body through the Adirondacks to his final resting place in North Elba.

Aug. 27, “Place Names in the Adirondacks: A Diverse Past,” with Pete Nelson, a co-founder of ADI and an adjunct faculty member at NCCC. The history of life and work in the Adirondacks is much more racially and culturally diverse than people realize.  But while this history has been neglected and mostly forgotten, its imprint lives on in place names found throughout the Park. Learn the fascinating stories of some of the names we see in the region and the people whose presence and labors defined them.

Each presentation will be followed by an opportunity to interact with and ask questions of the host.

To register for the Summer Series, visit the college’s North Country Live page at www.nccc.edu/live. All of the prior sessions are archived on the same page.

For more information, contact Selina LeMay-Klippel, at slemay-klippel@nccc.edu.