Media Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 15, 2013
Contact: Ryan LaFata, 757/728-5328
[email protected]
Calvin Pearson, 757/380-1319
[email protected]
Project 1619 Celebrates Emancipation Proclamation Day of Remembrance on
January 26
-- Emancipation Proclamation anniversary events to be held at
Hampton History Museum and Emancipation Oak--
Hampton, VA- On January 26, Project 1619 Inc., the Contraband Historical Society, and
the Sankofa Projects will sponsor an Emancipation Proclamation Day of Remembrance
with two very special events commemorating the 150th anniversary of the passing of the
Emancipation Proclamation.
“Although the Emancipation Proclamation did not free any Africans who were enslaved,
the Proclamation has become one of the most important documents in America’s
history,” said Project 1619 Inc. Founder Calvin Pearson.
Beginning at Noon, the Hampton History Museum (120 Old Hampton Lane Hampton
VA 23669) will host a panel discussion on the cause and effects of the Emancipation
Proclamation. Panelists include Dr. William Wiggins, Professor and Historian of African
Culture and Politics; Professor Robert Watson, Hampton University History Department;
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and Dr. Cassandra Newby-Alexander, History Professor at Norfolk State University. A Q
& A discussion will follow on the strategic implications of the contraband decision.
At 2:00 p.m., the Emancipation Proclamation Day of Remembrance concludes with a
Ritual of Remembrance ceremony at Emancipation Oak (Emancipation Drive, on the
campus of Hampton University). Sankofa Projects Founder Chadra Pittman Walke will
coordinate the Emancipation ritual that includes an invocation by Dr. Joanne M. Braxton,
Founder and Director of the Middle Passage Project at the College of William and Mary
and a drum call to the ancestors.
Emancipation Proclamation Day of Remembrance
Saturday, January 26
Noon
Panel Discussion on the Cause and Effects of the Emancipation Proclamation/Audience
Discussion
Location: Hampton History Museum
2:00 p.m.
Ritual of Remembrance ceremony
Location: Emancipation Oak on the Campus of Hampton University
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For more information on the Emancipation Proclamation Day of Remembrance, contact
Calvin Pearson at 757/380-1319. Additional information can be found at
www.project1619.org. Event partners for the Emancipation Proclamation Day of
Remembrance include National Juneteenth Observance Foundation and Zel
Technologies.
Project 1619 Inc. is a non-profit organization whose goal is to promote Hampton’s rich
African American history. The organization is also raising funds to construct a National
Monument at Fort Monroe by 2019 to honor and remember the 400th Anniversary of the
arrival of the first enslaved Africans brought to North America on English occupied
territory at Point Comfort in 1619.
The Contraband Historical Society is an organization of concerned citizens whose
mission is to research, preserve, and promote the history, legacy, and contributions of the
enslaved Africans, who were considered “Contraband of War.” Three enslaved men,
purported to have been Shepard Mallory, James Townsend and Frank Baker, escaped to Ft.
Monroe. The slaves’ owner, Colonel Charles King Mallory of the 115th Virginia Militia, sent
Major John Baytop Cary to retrieve his three men, using the Fugitive Slave Law as
justification. Butler, realizing that slavery was at the very core of the conflict and that such
laborers were being used to build nearby Confederate fortifications, rejected his request.
General Butler believed that since Virginia considered itself independent and was at war with
the United States, he had no “constitutional obligation” to return the slaves. Butler added that
his troops would take possession of whatever property they required. Since slaves were
considered “chattel property,” Butler called the escaped enslaved men ”contraband of war.”
Ft. Monroe quickly became a magnet for those seeking freedom, and Butler began using
them to support Union operations. A contraband community was established outside Camp
Hamilton known as “Slabtown.”
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The Sankofa Projects is an organization that hosts cultural and educational programs
centered on the African Diaspora and creates national and International Rituals of
Remembrance ceremonies. These Rituals of Remembrance ceremonies honor the
millions of African men, women, and children who perished during the Trans-Atlantic
enslavement trade. The Sankofa Project acts as a liaison between the grass roots and the
academic community and works to ensure that the cultural influences and contributions
which Africans made to the United States and across the globe are reflected in the
historical record.
Partially bordered by the Hampton Roads harbor and Chesapeake Bay, Hampton, with
the 344,000 sq. ft. Hampton Roads Convention Center, is located in the center of the
Hampton Roads metropolitan area. Hampton is the site of America's first continuous
English-speaking settlement and is home to such visitor attractions as the Virginia Air &
Space Center and Riverside IMAX ® Theater, Hampton History Museum, harbor tours
and cruises, Hampton
University Museum, Fort Monroe, award-winning Hampton Coliseum, The American
Theatre, among others.
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