Hamilton Grange Announces Black History Month Program

The National Park Service is offering a special program on the New York Manumission Society as part of Black History Month.

“A Founding Father’s Fight Against Slavery: Alexander Hamilton and The New York Manumission Society” will be offered at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. on Feb. 18 at Hamilton Grange National Memorial. The event is free and open to the public.

During the 1780s, Alexander Hamilton was one of the founders of the New
York Manumission Society, an organization instrumental in the abolition of
slavery in New York. The program explores — through words and images — the
Society’s lasting legacy as well as Hamilton’s role in its creation and works.

As the society was the first organized abolitionist group in New York State, its members grappled with the mix of philosophical beliefs and hard realities in their own lives.  Many of the Society’s members, though ideologically opposed to slavery themselves, were in fact slaveholders. This ambiguity and the inherent contradictions that arose from it are central themes of this hour-long program, which also explores the legacy of this organization and how its early works helped to build a foundation for the abolitionist movement in New York City.

This program is offered in the ground floor multimedia room on a first-come, first-served basis. The capacity of the multimedia room is 25 persons. The Grange will also hold its normally scheduled guided house tours; every hour on the hour, with the exceptions of two self-guided open-house sessions between 9 a.m. and 10 a.m., and from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. The capacity for the tours is 15 visitors on the historically-furnished floor at any given time.  Reservations are not accepted.