07/23/2026
For essentially the past three years, I have been studying the lives and work of various Black activists of the 19th century. While this began as research for an exhibit put together by the Onondaga Historical Association in the fall and winter of 2024 in commemoration of the 160th anniversary of the National Convention of Colored Men, which met in Syracuse, New York, in October 1864, I found the information so fascinating that I essentially continued my own research as a hobby. In viewing the world of 19th-century Black activism, and the lives and work of figures like Frederick Douglass, Charles Lewis Reason, Mary Ann Shadd Cary, Edmonia Highgate, Paschal Beverly Randolph, and countless others, I began to at least scratch the surface of a better understanding of not just the varied efforts to end slavery, but also how said efforts connected to a plethora of arguments for how best to “uplift” the Black community, with education, of course, being a central component basically at all times.
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For essentially the past three years, I have been studying the lives and work of various Black activists of the 19th century. While this began as research for an exhibit […]
