THE ARTS
Events recall Emancipation Proclamation’s legacy
GENESEO — SUNY Geneseo is commemorating the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation with an exhibition and lecture this month.
The events, part of the college’s “Emancipation at 150” programs, are an opportunity to reflect on the legacy of the proclamation issued Jan. 1, 1863, by President Abraham Lincoln. The Emancipation Proclamation freed the slaves in the states remaining in rebellion during the American Civil War.
“Meditations on Emancipation” is an exhibition showcasing contemporary artists’ interpretations of the meaning of Emancipation. The exhibit is on view through March in the college’s Bertha V.B. Lederer Fine Arts Gallery, room 203 of the Brodie Fine Arts Building.
On Feb. 21, Steven Hahn, a distinguished professor at the University of Pennsylvania, will deliver the keynote address “Slave Emancipation, Indian Peoples, and the Projects of a New American State.” His address begins at 7 p.m. in the MacVittie Union Ballroom.
Hahn is a specialist on the history of 19th-century America, African-American history, and the international history of slavery and emancipation. In 2004, he received the Pulitzer Prize in History for “A Nation Under Our Feet: Black Political Struggles in the Rural South from Slavery to the Great Migration.”
Hahn writes regular review essays for The New Republic, and he is the author most recently of “The Political Worlds of Slavery and Freedom.”
“Emancipation at 150” is a series of events at Geneseo to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation. On Jan. 1, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln issued a proclamation which freed the slaves in the states remaining in rebellion during the American Civil War.
All events are free and open to the public.
