{"id":32787,"date":"2024-02-01T12:35:38","date_gmt":"2024-02-01T17:35:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.springfieldlibrary.org\/library\/?p=32787"},"modified":"2024-02-07T14:04:00","modified_gmt":"2024-02-07T19:04:00","slug":"springfield-library-to-host-freedom-stories-of-the-pioneer-valley-event-the-reminder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.springfieldlibrary.org\/library\/springfield-library-to-host-freedom-stories-of-the-pioneer-valley-event-the-reminder\/","title":{"rendered":"Springfield library to host Freedom Stories of the Pioneer Valley event (The Reminder)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

PLEASE NOTE: This program has been rescheduled for February 17, 2024 at 11:00 AM. Please register on our event calendar<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

January 31, 2024. Full story on The Reminder<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SPRINGFIELD \u2014 Stories of Black men and women living in Springfield and the surrounding areas in the 1700s and 1800s will be shared during an upcoming event with Cliff McCarthy, an archivist from the Springfield Museums\u2019 Library and Archives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Freedom Stories of the Pioneer Valley will take place on Feb. 3 in the Mason Square Library Branch community room from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because Springfield Central Library is located on the quad with the museums, there is a close relationship between the two.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Springfield City Library Training and Programming Librarian Elizabeth McKinstry said, \u201cCliff McCarthy, who works in the library archives over at the history museum has been participating [and] working on research on this for a long time but also participated in this community history project called documenting the early history of Black lives in the Connecticut River Valley.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

McCarthy told Reminder Publishing<\/em> that he plans to share stories of African American men and women who achieved their freedom in extraordinary ways. \u201cAll of them lived locally, but each of these stories reflects an important aspect of our nation\u2019s history regarding Black Americans. I will also be highlighting a recent project that is enabling researchers to learn more about them and others, by diving deep into local archives to find the evidence of their lives,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is the first time this event will take place at Springfield, although other area libraries have hosted it in the past.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s all about remembering these people and their stories. When you say their names and tell their stories, we assure their lives will never be forgotten, again,\u201d McCarthy said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When researching this topic, McCarthy discovered information that interested him. \u201cJupiter Richards was a patriot who fought in the American Revolution before coming to Springfield and finding work in the Springfield Armory. He was convicted of stealing a small amount of grain and was given a fine by the court, which he couldn\u2019t pay. What happened to him next, will probably break your heart. These stories are extraordinary, often unknown, and give us perspective on the lives of Black people then and now,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He went on to say that the story that first got him interested in these narratives is the rescue of Angeline Palmer \u2014 a story he will not likely tell on Feb. 3. \u201cAngeline was a free-born Black child \u201cbound out\u201d to work in the home of a white Belchertown couple. When the couple moved to [the] state of Georgia, they planned to take Angeline with them and sell her into slavery. The scheme was discovered by some young men in Amherst, who went to Belchertown and snatched her from her home and sent her into hiding. The young men were convicted and did time in the Northampton jail, but never disclosed her whereabouts,\u201d McCarthy said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to this event, McKinstry said Maggie Keane, a reference librarian at the Central Library, has been doing an \u201cextremely popular\u201d series of local history events. At the East Forest Park Branch Library, Keane shared the history of a Springfield female bootlegger during the time of prohibition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

McKinstry noted that there will be an event in March about the history of women\u2019s basketball and in April, there is an event like the Freedom Stories of the Pioneer Valley, which shares genealogy ancestry about connecting to your roots.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe library is for everybody,\u201d McKinstry said. \u201cWe reflect that in our history programs and we\u2019re very excited to be doing more presentations on local history and genealogy because people love that and we encourage them to come to the library.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the Springfield Central Library in particular, McKinstry said they offer help for people looking for information on local history and have \u201ca good collection\u201d and librarians that specialize in helping people in requests looking for that information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During February \u2014 Black History Month \u2014 there will be an author event that takes place every Thursday from 3:30-4:30 p.m. at the Brightwood Branch. The series \u2014 designed for children and their parents \u2014 will include stories and poetry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In terms of adult programming, the Freedom Stories of the Pioneer Valley is the largest event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To learn more, visit springfieldlibrary.org\/library<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Stories of Black men and women living in Springfield and the surrounding areas in the 1700s and 1800s will be shared during an upcoming event with Cliff McCarthy, an archivist from the Springfield Museums\u2019 Library and Archives.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5,102,27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32787","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","category-news-adults","category-news-mason-square"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.springfieldlibrary.org\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32787","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.springfieldlibrary.org\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.springfieldlibrary.org\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.springfieldlibrary.org\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.springfieldlibrary.org\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32787"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.springfieldlibrary.org\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32787\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32929,"href":"https:\/\/www.springfieldlibrary.org\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32787\/revisions\/32929"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.springfieldlibrary.org\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32787"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.springfieldlibrary.org\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32787"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.springfieldlibrary.org\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32787"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}