On July 5, 1852, Frederick Douglass gave a keynote address at an Independence Day celebration and asked, “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?”
At the end of the legislative session, four other bills that ENJAN supports were passed:
The City of Poughkeepsie will be hosting the 2026 Juneteenth Celebration on Saturday, June 20th in Waryas Park on the Poughkeepsie waterfront.
The event in the park will run from 1:00 pm to 5:00 pm right following the Juneteenth parade, which will start lining up at Main Street and Market around noon before marching to the park around 12:30 pm.
During the afternoon, there will be food, entertainment, vendors, and tabling by many local community organizations, including ENJAN. A flyer is attached below. We hope you can join us for this special celebration. Please spread the word. Thank you.
The ENJAN Curators
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT PAT LAMANNA, 845-309-3853 or patla42@gmail.com
Between Wednesday, May 26 and Sunday, May 31, there will be a series of events in Poughkeepsie in conjunction with a historic walk. #FreedomWalk2026 is a modern-day retracing of the Underground Railroad to Canada, on the 250th anniversary of America’s independence. The 750-mile pilgrimage, following 19th-century routes to freedom, will commemorate the brave self-liberators, the abolitionists, and their secret networks. More information can be found at https://www.menare.org/freedomwalk2026-about.
The group’s leader is Anthony Michael Cohen, a historian, author, and founder and president of The Menare Foundation, Inc., a national nonprofit organization dedicated to “Preserving the Legacy of the Underground Railroad.” The group arrives in Poughkeepsie on Tuesday, May 25 and will stay at the Oakwood Friends School. The events taking place during the group’s sojourn in Poughkeepsie include:
May 27, 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm
Local Walk #1: The Role of Local Churches in the Anti-Slavery
Movement
Gather at the Family Partnership Center parking lot, 29 North Hamilton St. This walk will highlight the places of worship and people that were influential in the anti-slavery movement, including Smith Metropolitan AME Zion Church, First Congregational Church, and Second Baptist Church.
May 28, 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm
Oakwood Friends School, 22 Spackenkill Rd., Poughkeepsie, NY, 12601
A Bonfire Gathering with Historian Anthony Michael Cohen
Please join us for moments of silence, song, and a sharing from Tony Cohen about his journey - what it was like in the past, what it is like today, and what it stands for now, in this particular day and time.
May 29, gather at 3:45 pm, program starts promptly at 4:00 pm
Local Walk #2: River Trail to Freedom and Walkway Over the Hudson
Please join us at the Celebrating the African Spirit memorial in Waryas Park, then walk to Upper Landing Park, across the Walkway Over the Hudson, and end at the Sojourner Truth statue to highlight the history of the anti-slavery movement and influential leaders in our area.
May 31, 12:00 pm to 3:00 pm
COMMUNITY CELEBRATION
Family Partnership Center, 29 North Hamilton Street, Poughkeepsie, NY 12601
The community is joyously invited to celebrate this historic journey with Tony Cohen and his team. This event will honor the courage, hope, faith and unity that shaped this pivotal chapter in American history with a blessing, music, reflections, remarks from Tony Cohen, and refreshments.
These events are being sponsored by a large number of community partners, listed below:
The Gillespie Forum
Celebrating the African Spirit
Poughkeepsie Public Library District
The Sadie Peterson Delaney African Roots Branch Library
Mayor Yvonne Flowers
Jamar Cummings, City Chamberlain
Dutchess County Historical Society
Dutchess County Interfaith Council
ENJAN (End the New Jim Crow Action Network)
Family Partnership Center
Smith Metropolitan AME Zion Church
First Congregational United Church of Christ
Christ Episcopal Church Outreach Committee
The Reformed Church of Poughkeepsie
Hudson Valley Gospel Singers & Musicians
The Living History Theater and The Afro Living Library
Somatic Historian: Patina Apis Nikki
Mid-Hudson Anti-Slavery History Project
Oh, Freedom! Quilting Project
Young Adult Committee, Northern Dutchess NAACP Nubian Directions II, Inc.
Poughkeepsie Friends Quaker Meeting and Oakwood Friends School
Walkway Over the Hudson/Friends of the Walkway
Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Poughkeepsie
Adams Fairacre Farms
Ulster Savings Bank
Stewart’s Shops
Join the local portion of #FREEDOMWALK2026, a modern-day retracing of the Underground Railroad, celebrating the 30th anniversary of historian Anthony Michael Cohen’s inaugural journey of the same route. Poughkeepsie is one of only ten cities where Cohen and his team will establish their base of operations.
ENJAN is one of more than two dozen local organizations sponsoring #FREEDOMWALK2026. Events include:
Wednesday, May 27, 4:00---6:00 PM: Local Walk #1: The Role of Local Churches in the Anti-Slavery Movement,
Start at the Family Partnership Center parking lot.
Thursday, May 28, 6:00---8:00 PM: Bonfire Gathering with Anthony Michael Cohen, Oakwood School.
Friday, May 29, 4:00 PM: Local Walk #2: River Trail to Freedom and Walkway Over the Hudson. Begin at Celebrating the African Spirit memorial in Waryas Park; end at Sojourner Truth statue (west side of Walkway).
Sunday, May 31, 12:00---3:00 PM: Community Celebration, Family Partnership Center.
For more details, including alternatives in case of rain and list of local sponsors, see attached flier.
“Since 1979, New Afrikans living in the American empire have used the month of August to draw attention to "the oppressive treatment of our brothers and sisters disappeared inside the state-run gulags and concentration camps America calls prisons." For the Afrikan peoples of the Diaspora, especially in the California prison isolation units where the commemoration practice started. Black August is a month of enormous historical significance. Black August, according to Mumia Abu-jamal, one of our most devoted New Afrikan Freedom Fighters, "is a month of divine meaning, of repression and radical resistance, of injustice and divine justice; of repression and righteous rebellion; of individual and collective efforts to free the slaves and break the chains that bind us."
ENJAN Members,
We wanted to let you know about some upcoming events that are directly related to ENJAN's mission. We hope you are able to attend. Thank you.
The ENJAN Curators
Thursday, July 31st, 3:00 pm: Journalism Behind Bars
Virtual event via Zoom with incarcerated journalist Jeremy Busby
Friday, August 1st, 7:00 to 9:00 pm: A Meeting with Kevin Douglass Greene
Location: Lateef Islam Auditorium, 29 North Hamilton Street, Poughkeepsie
Kevin Douglass is a senior advisor with the Frederick Douglass Family Initiative
Saturday, August 2nd, noon to 3:00 pm: Frederick Douglass:Celebration
Location: College Hill Park, 149 North Clinton Street, Poughkeepsie
No registration required
Tuesday, August 5th, 5:00 to 8:00 pm: National Night Out
Location: Poughkeepsie City Hall
Open to the public free of charge
[ENJAN will be tabling]
Saturday, September 13th, 2:00 to 6:00 pm: Attica Community Remembrance Day BBQ
Location: Poughkeepsie Waterfront
[ENJAN will be tabling]
ENJAN Members,
Activist Radio has the following guest on this week:
