Shetterly's portrait of John Brown, with the
abolitionist's famous last written words
(Adirondack Almanack)

Take Note!--
North Country Event Remembers Emancipation, New Portrait of John Brown Introduced

According to The Adirondack Almanack (9 Oct.), John Brown Lives! and North Country Community College have announced that Robert Shetterly, an artist from Maine, will present his portrait of John Brown during a program in Saranac Lake and Lake Placid, New York, Nov. 30-Dec. 1, 2012.  The program, "Freedom Now, Freedom Then: The Long History of Emancipation," is designed for students, educators and the general public.  Shetterly's portrait of the abolitionist is the latest addition to his project, "Americans Who Tell the Truth," which the artist began ten years ago.  Shetterly's portraits include both contemporary and historical figures and feature their own words in order to provide a “link between a community of people who struggled for justice in our past and a community of people who are doing it now.” The project now includes more than 180 individuals of note, Brown following such historical figures as Abraham Lincoln, Sojourner Truth and Mark Twain.  The Brown portrait will be unveiled on Friday, Nov. 30th at North Country Community College, Saranac Lake campus, at the opening program of “Freedom Now, Freedom Then: The Long History of Emancipation.”

Artist Robert Shetterly
(Americans Who Tell the Truth website)

With a focus on high school and college students as well as their teachers, the program features an exciting array of important guests: independent scholar Amy Godine,  Kenneth Morris, Jr., the great-great-great grandson of Frederick Douglass and President of The Frederick Douglass Family Foundation, and Civil War Memory blogger Kevin Levin make educational presentations to students. A major component of the work of John Brown Lives!, an organization founded by activist Martha Swan, has been provide teachers excellent opportunities to interact with historians, scholars, and anti-slavery activists and artists.  In this program, Heaven Hill Farm in Lake Placid will be the venue for a full day of programs featuring Dr. Gloria Marshall-Browne on freedom and the Founding Documents; Dr. Margaret Washington on women and emancipation; Civil War Memory blogger Kevin Levin on film and emancipation; Magpie, the folk duo, on emancipation in song; Artist Robert Shetterly on art to promote courageous citizenship; Morris, President of the Frederick Douglass Family Foundation, on engaging youth, congregations and communities in emancipation today; and Dr. Franny Nudelman on emancipation our texts and textbooks.  David W. Blight, preeminent scholar on the U.S. Civil War, will give the closing keynote address, “The Historical Memory of the Civil War and Emancipation at 150” on Saturday night in Lake Placid (venue to be determined). Blight is the Director of the Gilder Lehrman Center for Slavery, Resistance and Abolition at Yale University and the author of numerous award-winning books and publications.

For more information, presenter bios, and a complete schedule of workshops, film and music programs, visit John Brown Lives! on Facebook or contact either Martha Swan, Executive Director John Brown Lives!, or Cammy Sheridan, Assistant Professor of Social Sciences at North Country Community College. Swan may be reached at 518-962-4798 or info@johnbrownlives.org. Sheridan is available at 518-891-2915, ext. 1271 or csheridan@nccc.edu.

For the complete source see: "John Brown Portrait Unveiling Set For History Event," The Adirondack Almanack (9 Oct. 2012).