Abolition as a Black-led Movement

Honor Juneteenth in the classroom using a compelling new lesson from the Schomburg Center archives. Learn about Nancy, a free Black woman, who in 1828 sued a white man named Joseph Butler for assaulting and imprisoning her in Arkansas.

Please join Cara Hill, Schomburg’s Educator Development Specialist, in an on-line conversation with Nicole Daniels, the writer and researcher for the Schomburg Curriculum’s Abolition as a Black-led Movement curriculum. Ms. Daniels will share more about the story of Nancy, including ways in which Black women used the legal system on the path to emancipation. Ms. Daniels and Ms. Hill will then take a closer look at the Schomburg’s Archives, discussing Daniels's work and the newly-created Schomburg Curriculum.

Featuring archival materials from the Center’s world-renowned collections, the Schomburg Curriculum series provides complete lessons to introduce students to Black history, experience, and culture. Devised for middle- and high school students, the lessons may also be adapted by parents and teachers for younger and older audiences.

Access the curriculum guides featuring primary source documents and ready-to-use discussion questions here. More guides and lessons will become available in the coming months.

Nicole Daniels is a writer and actor with a background in history and education. A former classroom teacher and museum educator, Daniels was previously a Staff Editor at The New York Times Learning Network. She also researched and wrote the Slavery & Abolition curricula for the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.

Cara Hill is the Educator Development Specialist for the Schomburg Curriculum, a new initiative linking educators and students to the Schomburg Center archives. Hill is a seasoned educator, with extensive experience in New York City schools as well as educator outreach programs, including Upward Bound and Columbia University’s Double Discovery Center.

Teaching with the Schomburg Center’s Archives is presented by The New York Public Library’s Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in collaboration with NYPL’s Center for Educators and Schools. The Schomburg Center is one of the world’s leading cultural institutions devoted to the research, preservation, and exhibition of materials focused on African American, African Diaspora, and African experiences. The Center for Educators and Schools is an initiative that works to ensure educators can make the most of the world-renowned resources of the Library.

Explore additional curriculum guides and teaching tools created with the Library’s primary sources at: nypl.org/ces

The Schomburg Curriculum project is made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services, MH-00-19-0031-19. The views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this curriculum do not necessarily represent those of the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC.

ACCESSIBILITY | Live captioning is available for streaming programs. ASL interpretation and real-time (CART) captioning available upon request. Please submit your request at least two weeks in advance by emailing YWNjZXNzaWJpbGl0eSB8IG55cGwgISBvcmc=.

PRESS | Please send all press inquiries (photo, video, interviews, audio-recording, etc) at least 24-hours before the day of the program to Leah Drayton at bGVhaGRyYXl0b24gfCBueXBsICEgb3Jn. Please note that professional video recordings are prohibited without expressed consent.

Accessibility Notes:

- Captions and a transcript will be provided. Media will be accompanied by alt text to reference before the program or by audio description.

FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

ACCESSIBILITY | Live captioning is available for streaming programs. ASL interpretation and real-time (CART) captioning available upon request. Please submit your request at least two weeks in advance by emailing YWNjZXNzaWJpbGl0eSB8IG55cGwgISBvcmc=.

PRESS | Please send all press inquiries (photo, video, interviews, audio-recording, etc) at least 24-hours before the day of the program to Leah Drayton at bGVhaGRyYXl0b24gfCBueXBsICEgb3Jn. Please note that professional video recordings are prohibited without expressed consent.

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