Upcoming Events

Abolition, Women's Rights, and the Erie Canal

15 October General Meeting

The Erie Canal is very familiar to those living in the Rochester area and points east and west – locks and "low bridge, everybody down" are part of life here. But how much history do you really know? Come to our October meeting on Tuesday the 15^th and learn how this waterway was involved in the struggles for abolition and women’s rights. Derrick Pratt, Director of Education and Public Programming at the Erie Canal Museum in Syracuse, will give two presentations, The Pathway of Resistance: The Erie Canal and the Underground Railroad and Waters of Change: Women and The Canal.

His first talk will focus on African Americans’ experience along the canal, including enslavement and the abolitionist movement. The second presentation will cover how the fight for women’s rights grew out of the changes brought about by the Erie Canal. Different perspectives than many of us know about. Whenever we learn the history of an area, we are bound to gain new insights as to the whys in our ancestors’ lives.

Derrick is a native of Chittenango, New York. He received a B.A. in Social Studies Education from SUNY Cortland and a M.A. in Museum Studies from Syracuse University. Prior to his job at the Erie Canal Museum, Derrick served as Director of Programs at Chittenango Landing Canal Boat Museum for three years.

The Erie Canal Museum is located at 318 Erie Boulevard East in the 1850 National Register Weighlock Building, the last remaining structure of its kind. These buildings were built along the canal to weigh the boats in a lock and collect tolls. The museum serves as the "stewards and interpreters of Erie Canal related materials and heritage". 

It’s sure to be an interesting evening. Come in-person to Nazareth University’s Otto Schults Center or participate on Zoom. Registration is required for both.