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March 2016 Volume 11, number 59

UNDERGROUND RAILROAD FREE PRESS® Independent reporting on today’s

urrFreePress.com New York City Safehouse to Be an Underground Railroad Museum The following is adapted from an article in the Reader Jan- See our past issues from July and September 2006, uary 14, 2016, issue. Reprinted with January and July 2007, and January 2008 when permission. Free Press covered the battle with the City of New York which gained protection for the Chatel home. In the fall of 2004, on the cusp of gen- Click on Archives at urrfreepress.com. trification’s most recent arrival to New York City's Brooklyn Borough, Joy Chatel—known to many in the community as “Mama Joy”—received In This Issue a pink slip on her door notifying her of the City’s intention to confiscate A new Underground Railroad muse- her property “for the betterment of um honors the memory of the one the community.” who saved the property. 1 To Mama Joy’s surprise and dismay, she, along with several other neigh- bors who lived along Duffield Street Finally: The Under- in , suddenly ground Railroad National Monument opens. had become the recipients of a legal 1 action known as eminent domain. 227 Duffield Street, Brooklyn, NY The area where Mama Joy lived in cause his first wife’s family would Albany, New York's Underground downtown Brooklyn was developing speak of it often.” Railroad History Project mounts its fast, and the City had plans to build 15th annual conference. an underground parking lot. And there was other evidence said Lee, such as the Brooklyn Historical 2 The only problem was, like several of Society's old map of the area pointing the homes on the block, Mama Joy’s Flushing, Ohio's Underground Rail- to 226 Duffield Street as an Under- road Foundation begins its 24th year. at 227 Duffield Street had a special ground Railroad stop, and artifacts history: During the 1800s, it was one uncovered in the basement, including 3 of the safe-haven stops for freedom a sealed archway suitable as a hidea- seekers moving through the Under- way and tunnel for runaway slaves. ground Railroad to freedom. Further, Take a Canadian Underground Rail- road tour. the former owners of Mama Joy’s So Mama Joy set out to fight the City. home were believed to be well- Her plan was to get proof of the 3 known and respected abolitionists. home’s abolitionist past, as well as rally public support, and then ulti- Said Shawne Lee, Mama Joy’s daugh- Publicize your event at the Free Press mately convince the City to allow her ter “Her deceased husband, who Datebook. Get listed at Lynx. Submit to turn the location into a museum owned the property with his first an article or letter to the editor. and heritage center. wife, had always told her that there Email us at [email protected]. was a strong possibility that aboli- She met with University of Maryland tionists used to live in the house be- Please go to Mama Joy, page 3, column 2 Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Monument Opens On March 10, 2016, annually observed as Harriet Tubman Day in Over the weekend, sites along the Harriet Tubman Byway Maryland , the National Park Service opened the new Harriet through that part of Maryland and into Delaware were open, Tubman Underground Railroad National Monument on Mary- some sponsoring activities. land's Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake near where Tubman was After years of the United States Congress failing to pass legisla- born and escaped from . tion to create a Tubman National Park, President Obama signed a Exhibits for the Monument's visitor center are being designed and presidential order creating the monument. Many of the country's posters of the exhibit design are in place for visitors to see. That national parks first existed as national monuments before being evening a symposium was held on the new monument and Tub- elevated in status. National parks enjoy stronger environmental man's early life in the area. and historical protection than do national monuments. 12

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Underground Railroad History Project to Hold 15th Annual Conference in April Conference Signup Organized by Underground Railroad His- 2011 with a degree in political science and undergroundrailroadhistory.org tory Project of the Capital Region, Inc., concentration in international relations. or based in New York State, the 15th annual Her activism was inspired by Marx, An- Underground Railroad Public History gela Davis, the Black Panthers, the poetry Mary Liz Stewart Conference will be held April 15-17, 2016. of Amiri Baraka and radical writers of The conference is co-sponsored by Russell many stripes. “I risk arrest because the [email protected] Sage College in Troy, New York. Drawing pendulum in this country can swing clos- 518.465.8708 a multi-age, diverse audience from er to justice if we acknowledge the con- around the country, this conference pro- nections between our struggles.” vides the opportunity for new researched Saturday is full of workshops, an interac- information to be brought forward, ex- tive cultural performance, vendors, exhib- panding the ever-growing body of the itors, an art exhibit, and reception. Satur- MORE you can do Underground Railroad. day's keynote speaker is Graham Hodges, WITH Free Press The Educators’ Workshop on Friday, PhD, the George Langdon, Jr. Professor of geared toward educators but open to an- History and Africana Studies at Colgate yone interested, will address “Racism in University. He will speak on “The Un- America: Where Do We go From Here?” derground Railroad in Colonial and Rev- Click on links at urrFreePress.com Facilitated by Alan Singer, PhD of Hof- olutionary New York: Redefining the to do any of the following. stra University and colleague April Fran- Passage to Freedom.” He is the author of Subscribe cis, a middle school educator, this prom- many books including the prize-winning View or Add to Datebook ises to be an engaging workshop. Alan David Ruggles: A Radical Black Abolitionist Singer is author of numerous books that and The Underground Railroad in New York Send News, Letters, Articles or Ads focus on social studies content instruction City (University of North Carolina Press, Join the Community or View Lynx and slavery in New York. In addition to 2010). He has directed five National En- Make a Free Press Prize Nomination her middle school teaching schedule, co- dowment for the Humanities Summer facilitator April Francis has worked with Seminars for Schoolteachers on Abolition- Rate an Underground Railroad Site numerous teachers from various New ism and the Underground Railroad and List an Underground Railroad Site York universities and has presented an will direct his sixth in 2016. Saturday Read Underground Railroad Surveys array of professional development work- workshop facilitators hail from Califor- shops. She served on the Hofstra Univer- nia, Michigan, Maryland, Rhode Island sity research team with Dr. Alan Singer and New York State. The "In Diversity is that developed the New York State and Richness: the Strength, Faith, and Hope of Slavery: Complicity and Resistance curricu- a People" art exhibit will feature Marcus ® lum guide. Kwame Anderson and Daesha Devón Underground Railroad Free Press Harris. “I believe that the arts can be a Independent Reporting on Barbara Smith and Angelica Clarke are Today’s Underground Railroad powerful vehicle for change and I often the Opening Address speakers. Moving incorporate social commentary into my Peter H. Michael, Publisher Between: Intersectional Identities in the [email protected] work,” says Anderson. Harris writes, “… Struggle for Justice will address how em- 301 | 874 | 0235 with ardent respect for a profound past, I bracing multiple identities deepens effec- challenge the viewer to consider the com- Underground Railroad Free Press is a free newsletter tiveness of political work. Smith is a No- published by Underground Railroad Free Press, 2455 plexity of issues facing communities of bel Peace Prize nominee, author, activist, Ballenger Creek Pike, Adamstown, Maryland, 21710. color.” Back issues are available free at our website. Free scholar and ground-breaker in the na- Press is distributed by email. Send email address tional dialogue on intersections of race, Sunday will feature a bus tour highlight- changes and new subscribers' email addresses to us class, sexuality and gender. She was an ing the Afro-Dutch heritage in New at [email protected]. early exponent of the African American York's Capital Region in and around Al- We welcome news articles and letters to the editor. women’s literary tradition, Black wom- bany. Jennifer Tosch is the founder of All rights to submissions including emails and letters will be treated as unconditionally assigned to Free en’s studies and Black feminism. She is Black Heritage Amsterdam Tours, part of Press for publication and copyright purposes, and politically active in social justice move- the Mapping Slavery Project initiated at subject to our unrestricted right to edit and comment ments and has edited three major collec- Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam in 2013. editorially unless otherwise agreed with authors. tions on Black women. From this research The Amsterdam Slavery Free Press accepts tasteful nonpolitical advertising Heritage Guide was published in 2014 and which we reserve the right to reject for any reason Angelica Clarke, Executive Director at which in our sole judgment is not acceptable. Submit includes researched information relating Albany, New York's Social Justice Center, advertising in pdf, jpg or text formats. Visit our web- to several cities in the Netherlands. The site for rates and layout specifications. is a community organizer currently or- Mapping Slavery Project has been ex- Contents of any Free Press issue are protected by ganizing against prisons, police violence, panded to include slavery and African copyright and may not be reproduced in whole or in and other forms of structural racism. She heritage in New York’s Hudson River part for any reason without prior approval of the graduated from University at Albany in publisher. Underground Railroad Free Press is a regis- Valley. tered trademark. 4123

Underground Railroad Free Press 3 Ohio's Underground Railroad Foundation Begins 24th Year One of an Occasional Series on Underground Railroad Sites and People Twenty-three years ago, Dr. John Mattox 1990s has reintroduced the Underground America's memory of the Underground had a vision of creating a museum of lo- Railroad to Americans, Canadians, and Railroad. cal Underground Railroad artifacts and many other parts of the world. Preceding Located near the Ohio River where it history in eastern Ohio where he lives. the founding of Underground Railroad Free abuts West Virginia and Pennsylvania, After nearly a quarter-century of collect- Press, the federal government's three Un- Flushing sits amidst a dense network of ing, promoting and surviving a bad pipe- derground Railroad programs, the Na- known Underground Railroad routes, break flood, the Underground Railroad tional Underground Railroad Freedom safehouses, personages and history. For Foundation as Mattox named it leads a Center in Cincinnati, and nearly every east-west travellers on Interstate Route comfortable existence in the village of university Underground Railroad pro- 70, Flushing and the museum are only Flushing, Ohio, population 879. gram, Mattox's Underground Railroad about twenty minutes away. Visit Foundation deserves trailblazer credit for The museum is a fine example of the kind ugrrf.org for more. beginning the reawakening of North of individual initiative which since the

Mama Joy historian Dr. Cheryl LaRoche, author of and reversed eminent domain. A second Free Black Communities and the Under- victory came that September when Mama ground Railroad: The Geography of Re- Joy helped secure the co-naming of the sistance. When Dr. LaRoche saw the home little corridor of Duffield Street between she stated unequivocally that there was and Willoughby Avenue as “definite reason to believe this was an “Abolitionist Place.” abolitionist’s home.” Mama Joy then got to work hosting tours Mama Joy also learned that her area was inside the home to international and local actually a hub for freedom-seekers. In visitors. The home also became a regular fact, two prominent churches in the ar- meeting place for arts performances and ea—Bridge Street Church and Plymouth community organizing. Mama Joy’s plans Church—were well known for their pro- were to raise enough money to make it an abolition efforts, providing asylum and official museum. And then, on January 7, 100th Anniversary resources to newly escaped slaves. 2014, Mama Joy passed away suddenly from interstitial pneumonia, sending Then Mama Joy began to travel across the shockwaves throughout the community. five boroughs and to Rhode Island and Canada seeking support of researchers in “My mom was a warrior, no joke,” said antebellum and postbellum history. She Lee. “She was a community activist, PTA Dr. John Mattox met James Driscoll at the Queens Histori- president, and used to coach children’s cal Society, and with his help learned that baseball. When we were growing up, we abolitionists Thomas and Harriet Lee would have small miracles happen, mys- Truesdell had lived in her home. terious things, things I just thought hap- pened to people all the time. She would The Truesdells owned a cotton company, always get into serious situations and and Harriet was the secretary and treas- find her way out of it and land on top. So urer of a woman’s anti-slavery move- when she fell ill, I just thought she would ment. Apparently, the famous abolition- get out of it. But it didn’t happen.” ist, , would stay at their house when he was in town. This Now Lee oversees 227 Abolitionist Place they learned from a letter Garrison wrote and carries her mother’s torch. “I’m being Canada Underground Railroad Tour to his wife where he mentions the Trues- approached constantly by developers, Detroit's McMillin Tours is again offering dells. In the letter, Garrison states he was and I can easily walk away as a multi mil- its popular bus tour from Detroit to near- happy he was able to stay with them and lionaire,” said Lee. “But that’s not what I by Canadian Underground Railroad sites. what a lovely couple they were. want. What I want is what my mother McMillan's next tour will run from Octo- wanted and that’s to turn part of this Mama Joy presented this and other home into a museum heritage center.” ber 27 through 31, and includes two mounting evidence with each court visit. nights each at Niagara Falls and To- AKRF, the developer the City hired for On April 17, Friends of 227 Abolitionist ronto. the project, spent over $500,000 and hired Place will present Closer To Our Dream Tour leader Stewart McMillan has visited many professionals to discredit what she Performance Gala, a fundraiser to contin- every Canadian province, all 50 US states, was saying, said Lee, but to no avail. ue Mama Joy Chatel’s vision of turning and 141 countries. her historic home into a museum and her- In the spring of 2007, with the help of itage center. Proceeds from the event will To learn more or to sign up, visit Families United for Racial and Economic go toward legal expenses and developing http://mcmillintours.com. Equality, Mama Joy won against the City plans of 227 Abolitionist Place.