2005 Black History Month Activities

Dr. Jacquline Ray - "The Psychology of Those On the Underground Railroad"

Dr. Ray is Professor Emeritus of York College of the City University of New York. For more than 30 years she served as a faculty member and Chair of the Psychology Department. She also served as an Administrator for the City University of New York (CUNY) and State University of New York (SUNY). Having received several awards and honors, she now resides in Sarasota.

Mrs. Lovette Harper - "A Railroad Without Steel Rails"

Mrs. Harper is a volunteer at the Family Heritage House Museum and a collector of African art. She is a retired New York State educator who has taught all grade levels and served as a Director of Guidance. Her long time avocation has been developing and presenting programs of African American history and African art and culture.

Kianga Hanif & Madafo Wilson - "The Underground Railroad - A Cultural Connection Hidden in Plain View"

A-fun-filled workshop explores a time when Africans, brought to these shores in chains and sold as chattel, used their intellect and interconnectedness to endure the atrocities of slavery and escape to freedom.

Dr. Fatou Diop - "African Women in Senegal"

Dr. Diop comes from Africa and eagerly talks about what's going on with African women, particularly in the West Francophone African which is one of the areas from which the enslaved Africans brought to the United States came. She will discuss the social politics with regard to women in Senegal.

Dr. Edwina Stanley - "Transmittal of Secret Messages in Negro Spirituals" - Click here for a sample (4 MB)

The Spiritual was a form of music developed by the slaves which provided hidden messages of liberation and travel plans along the Underground Railroad. Dr. Stanley is a retired Administrator from the Sarasota County School System and sang with the famed Fisk Jubilee Singers for four years.

Drs. Robert & Helen Moore - "From Slavery to Congress by Way of the Underground Railroad"

Helen Boulware Moore, Ph.D., is a partner with her husband, Robert E. Moore, Ph.D., in the Interactions Group, a human services consulting firm that provides diversity initiatives to colleges and universities, Fortune 500 corporations, the health care industry, social service agencies, and government organizations across the country. She is a licensed psychologist and a former faculty member at Simmons College in Boston, MA. She is the great granddaughter of Robert Smalls who was born a slave, became a Civil War hero, and represented the State of South Carolina for five terms in the US House of Representatives during the Reconstruction. It is his story being told today.

VIDEOS

"Trail of Hope"
"Family Across the Sea"
"Harriet Tubman" - animated