About Rokeby

“unrivaled among known sites for its historical integrity and the poignancy of the stories it tells.”

From 1793 to 1961, Rokeby was home to four generations of Robinsons — a remarkable family of Quakers, farmers, abolitionists, artists, and authors. Today, the Robinson family’s home is a National Historic Landmark, designated for its exceptional Underground Railroad history. Rokeby is among the best-documented Underground Railroad sites in the country, one the National Park Service has described as:

“unrivaled among known sites for its historical integrity
and the poignancy of the stories it tells.”

Telling those stories is at the center of the Museum’s mission, which is to “connect visitors with the human experience of the Underground Railroad and with the lives of the Robinsons, who lived on and farmed this land for nearly 200 years.” Guided by Rachel Gilpin and Rowland Thomas Robinson’s commitment to speaking truth to power, today’s Rokeby is committed to serving as a center for the exploration and discussion of contemporary social justice issues.

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Rokeby Museum will host an evening discussion with author and journalist Scott Shane on his 2023 book Flee North: A Forgotten Hero and the Fight for Freedom in Slavery’s Borderland.

FLEE NORTH unearths the lost story of Thomas Smallwood, born into slavery in Maryland, who bought his freedom, educated himself, and became a shoemaker in Southwest Washington, a short walk from the U.S. Capitol. Smallwood began to organize mass escapes from slavery by the wagonload, with the help of a young white partner, Charles Torrey — and wrote about the escapes in extraordinary satirical dispatches for an abolitionist newspaper in Albany. It was Smallwood, Scott Shane discovered, who gave the underground railroad its name. Smallwood’s daring operation took place against the very dark background of the domestic slave trade, which thrived on Washington’s Mall and at Baltimore’s Inner Harbor, shipping thousands of people every year away from their families to the cotton and sugar plantations of the deep south. The book’s third central character, Baltimore’s Hope Slatter, was the era’s dominant slave trader, operating from his private “slave jail” near Baltimore’s harbor. 

To learn more and purchase tickets visit:
https://rokeby.org/event/lecture-with-scott-shane-author-of-flee-north-a-forgotten-hero-and-the-fight-for-freedom-in-slaverys-borderland/

#vermontevents #UGRR #undergroundrailroad #history #vermontactivities #scottshane
Enjoy games and activities with Let's Grow Kids at Rokeby Museum's Pie & Ice Cream Social! 

#letsgrowkidsvt #pie #icecream #vermont #vermontevents
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