As part of our Voices and Votes exhibition, Preservation Long Island invites you to join a Community Conversation exploring the enduring themes of liberty, freedom, and the ongoing struggle for equality. Community Conversation programs encourage New Yorkers from across the state to share their thoughts and experiences and build community through understanding.
Community Conversation: What is Freedom?
Date: Thursday, March 28, 2024
Where: Preservation Long Island (161 Main St., Cold Spring Harbor)
Time: 7:00–8:00 PM (our Exhibition Gallery will open at 6:30 PM to allow registrants to browse the exhibit)
Cost: Free (registration is required)
Facilitated by Joseph Murphy from Humanities New York, this conversation will be built around Jupiter Hammon’s 1786 essay “An Address to the Negroes in the State of New-York,” which he wrote while enslaved by the Lloyd family on Long Island. Hammon’s writing grapples with the same democratic ideals debated by our nation’s Founding Fathers, and his work remains a powerful call for Americans to insist that the nation fulfill its promises of liberty and justice for all.
This event is open to everyone—community members, students, educators, activists, and anyone interested in exploring the challenges and triumphs that have attended American democracy since its inception. All participants will receive the text of Jupiter Hammon’s “An Address to the Negroes in the State of New-York” in advance of the conversation.
“A New Agora for New York: Museums as Spaces for Democracy” has been made possible in part by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities: Democracy demands wisdom. Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this program do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
This project is supported by a grant awarded to the Museum Association of New York by Empire State Development and I LOVE NY/New York State’s Division of Tourism through the Regional Economic Development Council initiative.
Voices and Votes has been made possible in New York State by the Museum Association of New York. Voices and Votes: Democracy in America is part of Museum on Main Street (MoMS), a collaboration between the Smithsonian Institution and State Humanities Councils nationwide.
Support for MoMS in New York State has been provided by the United States Congress, the National Endowment for the Humanities and the William G. Pomeroy Foundation. To learn more visit museumonmainstreet.org, sites.si.edu, or nysmuseums.org.
