Frederick Douglass from Slavery to Freedom: The Journey to New York City

The Seward County Community College/Area Technical School Library is proud to host the national traveling exhibition Frederick Douglass from Slavery to Freedom: The Journey to New York City, beginning February 1. The exhibition will be on display through the entire month of February, which is Black History Month.

The exhibition explores the youth of Frederick Douglass, born a slave in Maryland in 1818, who after his escape to New York in 1838 became one of the most famous men in nineteenth-century America. Douglass fought to end slavery and championed civil rights for all Americans. His autobiography, published in 1845, was a powerful weapon in the abolitionist cause, and a bestseller in the United States. The exhibition poses the question: What aspects of his youth shaped his determination to be free?

Frederick Douglass from Slavery to Freedom: The Journey to New York City was developed from his autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, by the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. The exhibition was curated by Susan F. Saidenberg.

The exhibition has been displayed at schools, museums, libraries, and historic sites across the country.

“Through digital reproductions of letters, photographs, and broadsides, the exhibition invites visitors to learn about the life and legacy of Frederick Douglass,” said Matthew Pannkuk, director of the SCCC/ATS Library. “We hope this exhibition will help our patrons gain a deeper understanding of Douglass’ quest for freedom and the difficult choices he made. These choices can resonate for Americans today who are facing great challenges in achieving their goals and dreams.”

The SCCC/ATS Library is open Monday through Thursday from 7:45 a.m. to 10 p.m., Friday from 7:45 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. and Sunday from 1 p.m. to 9 p.m. The Library is closed on Saturdays.

For more information, you can contact the SCCC/ATS Library at (620) 417-1160.

About the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History Founded in 1994 by Richard Gilder and Lewis E. Lehrman, the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History is a nonprofit organization devoted to the improvement of history education. The Institute has developed an array of programs for schools, teachers, and students that now operate in all fifty states, including a website that features the more than 60,000 unique historical documents in the Gilder Lehrman Collection, www.gilderlehrman.org. Each year the Institute offers support and resources to tens of thousands of teachers, and through them enhances the education of more than a million students. The Institute’s programs have been recognized by awards from the White House, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Organization of American Historians.