Freedom on the Move

Christy Hyman's course pack that accompanies her trade book on the Great Dismal Swamp is now available and it is FREE.
authors.tertulia.com/christyhyman...

A cake decorated with Frederick Douglass and Power Concedes Nothing without a Demand

A display of library books about Frederick Douglass

Happy Frederick Douglass Day from the Hopewell Branch! #allrightsforall @douglassday.bsky.social @mclsnj.bsky.social

Black oyster restaurant owners in central Pa. labored for abolitionist cause | Column Their children continued their work for African American rights. One family is the subject of a Pittsburgh exhibit this month.

In central Pennsylvania communities such as Harrisburg, Carlisle, and York, some oyster houses were owned by Black people who were also UGRR conductors and who advocated for African American rights. www.pennlive.com/opinion/2026... #BHM #tellthemwhatwedid

18th century newspaper clip showing a runway advertisement for a freedom seeker named Titus. Background is picture of rural Monmouth County, New Jersey.

Before he was known as Colonel Tye, the legendary loyalist raider, his enslavers called him Titus. Read the story of Titus and his pursuit of freedom as recounted by our undergraduate intern Rhea Yenubari. Story link here and in our bio: freedom-seekers.org/story/titus-...

'Exhibiting Resilience’: Tribal consultation brings modern vision to new museum gallery - ICT Native curators help create a Penn Museum exhibit that could serve as a model for other museums

Native curators help create a Penn Museum exhibit that could serve as a model for other museums under NAGPRA.

The image shows a photo of Jamelle Bouie and features a background photo of a bookshelf. The text outlines the title, date and time of the talk.

TODAY!

Join us at 5 p.m. EST for a conversation between JCB Library Director Karin Wulf and NYTimes columnist Jamelle Bouie.

For 2026, the JCB is hosting the series Journalism and History When History Is News. More details at jcblibrary.org!

Register here: brown.zoom.us/webinar/regi....

#tellthemwhatwedid #blackmidwest

TWENTY DOLLARS REWARD-Run away, the girl FANNY, a light mulatto, about 5 feet 6 inches high, straight hair, and about 35 years of age; has a scar on her forehead, a large scar on the right arm, just inside the elbow, and four upper teeth out in front. She ran away from Gretna and belongs to John Swiler. To be put in jail and apply to Capt. Thomas Snow, Third Municipality, Red Stores. [J22-1m] JOHN SWILER The Daily Picayune 1851-01-24

I ran from John Swiler of Gretna, near New Orleans, in January 1851. I managed to hide through most of February, but was eventually caught and brought back. Swiler was killed in a steamboat explosion in March 1852 and I was listed as part of his estate. My name was FANNY. #slavery #NOLA

January 21, 2026. 2 pm Eastern. Untangling the Legislative History of National Heritage Areas. Presented in partnership with the National Park Service.

Don’t miss “Untangling the Legislative #History of National Heritage Areas,” presented in partnership with the #NationalParkService, tomorrow, Jan. 21. If you help manage or conduct research on NHAs, this one is for you! https://community.ncph.org/events/EventDetails.aspx?id=2021677&group=

$100 REWARD. A REWARD of fifty Dollars will be given for the apprehension and delivery to me, in Gates Co. of my negro man PETER. He is about 5 feet 8 inches high, has a very great impediment in his speech; has a scar on his breast, as if burned, and has lost a toe from one of his feet. He has a sister at the late Mrs. Jos. H. Skinner's, in Chowan County, and one in Elizabeth City, I think at Mrs. McMorines. H.E. RASCOE Nov. 24. Old North State 1850-12-25

I ran from Henry E. Rascoe’s farm in November 1849; he advertised for me for two years before giving up. The farm was in Gates County, NC, not far from the Great Dismal Swamp on the VA border, where many fugitives made their home, and I may have joined them. My name was PETER.

A photo of Pauline Copes Johnson

Pauline Copes Johnson, a descendant of Harriet Tubman, has died at 98.

She spent a lifetime guarding that legacy from the small city where Tubman spent her final years

www.kolumnmagazine.com/2025/12/11/t...

Illustration of hand holding pen

We’re back with another year of #Write4Rights!

This International Human Rights Day, join #W4R25, the world’s biggest human rights event where hundreds of thousands of people around the world come together to protect the rights of others: amn.st/633227f5xC ✍️

3 DECEMBER 1775, MOUNT VERNON, VIRGINIA: Lund Washington, George Washington’s steward (and relative), writes to George about his fears of how Mt. Vernon’s enslaved population will react to Lord Dunmore’s Proclamation, which promises freedom for slaves who escape rebel enslavers:

“A physically disabled boy sitting in a wheelchair on a beach”, surrounded by 3 women. Black and white photograph, c. 1910/1925. Reference: Wellcome Collection, 43576ie

This month is UK Disability History Month. You can learn more about the history of disability in the UK and Ireland through the Bibliography of British and Irish History's (BBIH) free reading list, which includes more than 450 recent publications in the history of disability buff.ly/OK5HSbu

America stares down erasure of Black history and progress In the last year, federal, state and institutional decisions have gutted pillars of America's civil rights protections.

America stares down erasure of Black history and progress www.axios.com/2025/11/29/f... "The cuts and deletions are, paradoxically, drawing more attention to Black history [and the need for it to understand and respond to this moment], says National Urban League president Marc H. Morial."

Title screen of Dr Eloise Grey's video 'The History of Emotions and BBIH'

In this On History blog, Dr Eloise Grey and Jenny Lelkes-Rarugal discuss how the Bibliography of British and Irish History (BBIH) can be used to research and teach the History of Emotions buff.ly/dHptKhS

Royal Historical Society Book and Article Prizes, 2026: submissions now invited - RHS The Royal Historical Society invites applications for its First Book Prize, 2026 and Early Career Article Prize, 2026. The call for submissions opens on Monday 29 September 2025 and runs to Monday 15 ...

Monday 15 December is the closing date for the Royal Historical Society's First Book and Early Career Article Prizes, for 2026.

Eligible titles, published in 2025, may be submitted by the author. Further details and how to apply: bit.ly/3KnR47v

#Skystorians

Newspaper advertisement for a freedom seeker named Abel

On December 2, 1773 an advertisement appeared in the Virginia Gazette for a freedom seeker named Abel. The 40 year-old man had learned to read and write and play the violin. He had traveled to England and back. But what he sought most was freedom.

Read Abel’s story: freedom-seekers.org/story/abel/

Greenpeace International and Greenpeace organisations around the world joined the #MakeAmazonPay day of action to tell the truth about Amazon’s expanding destructive impact.

Resist environmental destruction. Resist union busting. Resist Big Tech.

For people and the planet, it’s #TimeToResist!

NEA grants $30,000 to music dept. for ‘Freedom on the Move: Songs in Flight’ | Cornell Chronicle The National Endowment for the Arts has approved a $30,000 Grants for Arts Projects award to the Department of Music to support a musical response to Freedom on the Move (FOTM), a database housing dig...

Source!

news.cornell.edu/stories/2021...

Congrats to Shawn Okpebholo for the Grammy nom for the “Songs in Flight” work.
This collaboration was born from an NEA grant with Freedom on the Move!

Society launches call for new Applied History Fellowships, with the Institute of Historical Research and DC Thomson - RHS In November 2025, the Society joins with partners the Institute of Historical Research (IHR) and publisher DC Thomson to launch a new Applied History Fellowship programme to support recent post-doctor...

Applications now invited for the Society's new Applied History Fellowships with @ihr.bsky.social and DC Thomson: bit.ly/4ijiuII

Fellowships support recent post-doc historians and demonstrate the appeal of historical skills for employers. £12,000 for 6 months. Closing date: 31 Jan 2026 #Skystorians

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$50 REWARD. Ran away from the subscriber, living in Prince George's county, near Upper Marlboro', a negro boy named Hannibal Butler, about twenty years of age, brown color, five feet six inches high, spare make. No marks recollected. Had on when he went away a black cloth coat, plaid cloth pants, and took with him other clothing not recollected. I will give the above reward if taken in Maryland or the District, and secured so that I get him again. sep 18 LEVI OSBOURN. Daily National Intelligencer 1850-09-18

I ran from the Upper Marlboro, MD plantation of Levi Osbourn in September 1850; I might have hoped to get to DC and find shelter there, but I was caught. In October 1850, I was shipped from Baltimore to New Orleans by slave trader J.S. Donovan. My name was HANNIBAL BUTLER. #slavery #blackhistory

In 1900, Black librarian Daniel Murray began a bibliography of works by Black Americans, his goal “to secure every book and pamphlet in existence, by a Negro Author”, exhibit them at the 1900 Paris Exposition, and then archive them at @LibraryCongress: publicdomainreview.org/collection/d...