Pulitzer Prize-winning author James M. McPherson will deliver the keynote address, “Union College’s Role in the Abolitionist Movement,” at Founders Day Thursday, Feb. 26 at 12:45 p.m. in Memorial Chapel. The event commemorates the 214th anniversary of the granting of the College’s charter by the state.
During the ceremony, the College will unveil a portrait of Moses Viney, a runaway slave from Maryland who escaped to Schenectady on the Underground Railroad. Viney was a coachman, messenger and constant companion of Union President Eliphalet Nott, who eventually secured his freedom.
Viney’s portrait is by Simmie Knox, a renowned African-American artist who has painted the official White House portraits of former President Bill Clinton and First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton and other political and cultural figures.
Jared M. Gourrier ’10 will discuss Viney’s life and his role as a central figure on campus.
McPherson, a Civil War historian, is the George Henry Davis ’86 Professor of American History Emeritus at Princeton University. He has authored 11 books, including “Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era," which received the Pulitzer Prize in 1989. His latest book, “Tried by War: Abraham Lincoln as Commander in Chief,” was recently awarded the prestigious Lincoln Prize.
Also at Founders Day, Daniel Frio, a history teacher at Wayland High School in Massachusetts, will receive the Gideon Hawley Teacher Recognition Award. Frio was nominated by Priscilla Wright ’12. The award is named for the 1809 graduate of Union who was New York state’s first superintendent of public education.
Two students, seniors Adrienne B. Hart and Alexander H. Schlosberg, are to receive the Hollander Prize for Music, and will provide a musical interlude.
The Founders Day convocation is the first in a series of events to commemorate Union’s role in the abolitionist movement.
The College will host “The Underground Railroad, Its Legacies and Our Communities,” the eighth annual Underground Railroad History Conference, at College Park Hall Feb. 27-29.
In addition, a Schaffer Library exhibit, “Abolitionism and the Struggle for African-American Freedom: The Union College Experience,” chronicles the College’s involvement in the struggle for African-American freedom. It will include an 18th century sermon against the keeping of “negros” by Union College President Jonathan Edwards the Younger, photographs of Moses Viney, and copies of Union’s African-American student newspapers from the 1970s.
This exhibit will be on display Feb. 23-March 6.