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Portable Museum Created by Nazareth College Students Will Be Unveiled for First Time at Frederick Douglass International Underground Railroad Conference
The North Star Project, is being managed and supported through the Service Learning
Center at Nazareth College. The first phase began with the summer
session students who undertook faculty-guided research into the Underground Railroad movement in the Rochester area. From this
initiative, they developed a story board which was handed off to a
class of students at Monroe Community College's (MCC) Damon Center. The MCC class articulated
a format and developed a mockup. From this, a professional graphic
artist is creating the ten-panel display to be exhibited during the
conference.
 Almost 50 Nazareth College students have been working for months on a new "portable museum" that will chronicle the stories of the Underground Railroad in Rochester. It will feature a number of biographies of the people involved including Annie, Frederick Douglass's beloved daughter.
The exhibit will be unveiled for the first time at the Frederick Douglass International Underground Railroad Conference September 28 at the Convention Center.
Ariana Duncan, a recent Nazareth master's graduate from the Art Education graduate program, designed the exhibit.
Comprised of 10 retractable panels, each measuring 3 ft. wide by 8 feet tall, the exhibit can easily moved to different locations following the conference, such as schools, libraries, and community centers.
Nazareth's African American Experience class, led by
Dr. Tim Kneeland, started the project by putting together research on the Underground Railroad. Dr. Kneeland's Civil War and Reconstruction class picked up where his Experience class left off. During the second summer session, Kate Baldwin and Andrea Rosenberg continued with the project. The work was then passed on to Tom Weider's class at MCC to complete.
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Nazareth students, along with their art professor Dr. Doot Bokelman, listening to the stories of abolitionists who assisted the freedom seekers escape into Canada through Lewiston N.Y. Dr. Bokelman is working with her students on the exhibit's artistic design. |
Rosenberg says of the experience, "While the things that I found were known to other people, they were new and interesting to me. I managed to find a copy of a newspaper article addressed to 'The Abolitionists of Monroe County.' It described the stance of officials that were running for office on slavery."
"I thought it was fascinating to see the methods that abolitionists used to inform the public about their cause. Reading a history book and having it tell you how people reacted is one thing but seeing actual responses in an article is another thing entirely...it makes the past more real; it helps me to understand aspects of our past that I might not have understood otherwise."
Rosenberg said the value of working such a project is " Instead of reading from a book or taking notes I learn through service and action; I get to interact with other people and do something good for the community at the same time. To me, helping Dr. David Anderson, Chairman of the Rochester Monroe County Freedom Trail Commission, create something lasting for Rochester is the most important aspect of this project. I like the idea of being a part of a project that will help people learn about their city and their past."
Nazareth students are being trained as docents for the display, and will be present at the Conference to provide more information to attendees.
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