On Martin Luther King Day, Monday, Jan. 15, Greenwich, N.Y., native Clifford Oliver Mealy presents “From Slavery to Civil Rights: We Continue to Climb the Mountaintop,” a re-enactment of the story of Solomon Northup of Saratoga Springs, a free man who was kidnapped into slavery.
The event is set for 5-6:30 p.m. in the Nott Memorial.
An artist and photographer, Mealy honors his heritage and ancestors by re-enacting stories and personages of well-known African Americans. Northrup was kidnapped in 1841, leaving behind a wife and three children. He was held captive in a slave pen in Washington, D.C., and sold into slavery in Louisiana, where he served three masters for 12 years before regaining his freedom.
In 1999, Political Science Professor Clifford Brown, who was instrumental in researching Northup's history, produced a month-long program on Northup's life in the Nott. Associate Professor of Sociology Deidre Hill Butler will connect Northup's drive and determination for freedom and their relationship to the civil rights movement.
The program is sponsored by the Africana Studies Department, Student Activities, Kenney Community Center, Campus Ministry, AOP/HEOP Department and numerous student groups.