KNOW WHEN TO LEAVE THE PLANTATION
As a student at SUNY New Paltz in the tumultuous sixties, Janus Adams sought solace from the pressures of a segregated society in walks from campus to historic Huguenot Street. As the North was, at the time, still in denial about its ties to the history of slavery in the U.S., little did she know she was following in the footsteps of the legendary abolitionist Sojourner Truth.
In one telling incident, she was made aware of the vestiges of slavery and the suppression of women’s rights driving American society. To her rescue came her grand-uncle’s mantra: “Know when to leave the plantation.”
On the occasion of her class's fiftieth reunion, Adams—Emmy Award-winning journalist, author, historian, member of the class of ’67—returns to campus, inspired by passions nurtured here and informed by her latest project, STEAL AWAY: Escape to Freedom on the Underground Railroad. In this discussion, she mines the wisdom of the UGRR, extracting its power to rescue the freedom-seekers of today.
Thursday, October 12, 2017
SUNY New Paltz
Dessert reception and booksigning follow lecture